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HISTORY 


PALESTINE, 

FROM THE 

PATRIARCHAL AGE TO THE PRESENT TIME j ’ 


BY 


JOHN KITTO, 



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EDITOR OP THE PICTORIAL BIBLE, THE CYCLOPCEDIA OP 
BIBLICAL LITERATURE, ETC. 


NEW YORK 



BENJAMIN AND YOUNG, 62 JOHN STREET. 

1844. 













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CONTENTS. 


Book I. From the Deluge till the Death of Joseph, - - 1 

II. From the Birth till the Death of Moses, 23 

III. From the Death of Moses, till the Accession of Saul, - 49 

IV. From the Reign of Saul till the Death of Solomon, - 73 

V. From the Revolt of the Ten Tribes, till the Captivity 

of the Jews under Nebuchadnezzar, - - - 105 

VI. From the Captivity till the Rise of the Maccabees, - 140 

VII. From the Rise of the Maccabees till the End of the Asa- 

monean Dynasty, ------- 165 

VIII. From the Reign of Herod the Great till the Restoration 

of Syria to the Dominion of the Porte, - - - 187 


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THE 


HISTORY OF PALESTINE 


BOOK I. 

CHAPTER I. B. C. 234S To 1909, 


PUBuPPp’O,' e 


PATRIARCHS. 

The Deluge, . . 2348 
Confusion of 
Tongues, . . . 2230 
Birth of Terah, .2126 
Birth of Abraham, 1996 
First Call ot Abra- 
ham, .... 1937 
Second Call, and ar- 
rival in Canaan, 1921 
Defeat of Chedorla- 
omer, .... 1912 


ASSYRIA. 

B. C. 

Empire founded by 
Nimrod or Ashur, 2204 


EGYPT. 

B. C. 

Suphis I.;.. 2123 
Suphis II. . . . 2083 

Moscheris, or Mon- 
cheris, . . . 2043 

Musthis? . : . 2022 

Pammus, . . . 2011 



1. Early after the Flood, the country which we now call 
Palestine became the habitation of a portion of the tribes de- 
scended from Canaan, the youngest son of Ham. Hence the 
country acquired its earliest name, the Land of Canaan ; and 
the inhabitants were, collectively, called Canaanites. At the 
time of Abraham the country was but thinly peopled, and the 
inhabitants were separated into the various nations, enumerated 
in the first section of the Introduction. These several nations 
were not united under a common head ; but each was kept to- 
gether by a common name and parentage, and by local connec- 
tion. In all these nations, every town with its vicinage appears 
to have formed a separate commonwealth under its own Melek 
or “ king.” These kings appear to have been no other than the 
chief magistrates of the place, who were also leaders in war, 
and sometimes priests. Their authority was small, and they 
seem to have been unable to transact any important matter with- 
out the direct consent of their citizens. As there was abundant 
room, the vacant pasturages were abandoned to the pastoral 
chiefs of other tribes or nations, with whom the Canaanites ex- 


2 


THE DELUGE. 


[b. c. 2348. 


changed their goods and the produce of their fields, for the pro- 
duce of the flocks and herds. Their language, with probably 
some difference of dialect, was the same with that which Abra- 
ham brought from Mesopotamia. Their moral practices had be- 
w come very offensive, and their notions of God and his govern- 
ment were wild and uncertain ; but there is no evidence that 
.yx^-they we;re idolaters in the time of the Patriarchs. 

Our only knowledge of the social condition of the Canaan- 
ites is to be gathered from the few intimations contained in the 
Book of Genesis. They lived in walled towns, at the gates of 
which public business was transacted ; they cultivated the 
ground, and raised corn and wine. Silver by weight was their 
medium of exchange, and it. would seem that every adult male 
was acquainted with the use of arms. Such were the people 
of Canaan, when their country was visited by the illustrious 
stranger whose descendants were to become its most celebrated 
inhabitants. The circumstances of that visit must now be ex- 
plained. 

3. One thousand six hundred and fifty-six years after the Crea- 
tion, th^race of Man had become so guilty before God, that he 
swept them from the earth by a flood of waters. Only one fami- 
ly, of which Noah was the father, was saved. Noah had three 
sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth, through whom the vacant world 
was again .replenished with inhabitants. In nearly 400 years 
after the flood, the new races of mankind had also forgotten God, 
and had onlv some vague remembrance of that ancient promise 
of a Deliverer, who should crush the head of the Serpent, by 
whose seducernents sin and sorrow were brought into the world 
(Gen. iii). The world then seemed fast ripening for a new de- 
solation ; but God had sworn not again to destroy the earth for 
man’s iniquities (Gen. viii. 21. 22). He chose rather to take one 
of the numerous tribes of men, and commit to its keeping the 
great truths which it was needful to keep alive in the world, 
until the time should come in which He purposed to make his 
will more fully known. These truths were, the knowledge of 
Himself as the Creator and Ruler of the Universe, and of his 
promise to provide a Redeemer for the world. 

4. The founder of this favoured tribe was Abraham (at first 
called Abram), a descendant of Shem, the son of Noah, in the 
line of Heber. He belonged to a wealthy pastoral family dwell- 
ing beyond the Euphrates, in that district in which the town of 
Ur (now Urfah) was situated. This family was not free from 
the general taint of idol worship ; for we are told tha£ Terah, 
the father of Abraham, and probably also his sons, served 
other gods” beyond the Euphrates. Nevertheless, the God of 
Noah does not appear to have been altogether unknown ; and 
while the world at large lay in darkness, the last rays of de- 
parting truth still lingered upon the tents of Terah. Abraham 
was the youngest of three sons, the others being Haran and Na- 


FIRST CALL OF ABRAHAM. 


a 


b. c. 1937.] 


hor. Haran, the eldest, died early, leaving one son called Lot, 
and two daughters, Milcah and Sarah (at first called Sarai). 
Milcah became the wife of Nahor, and Sarah of Abraham. Na- 
hor had children, hut Abraham had none. 

5 . Before the flood, the life of man had been very long ; after 
the flood, it gradually shortened ; but in the times of which we 
write, it was not yet reduced to its present limit of three score 
and ten years. Abraham, therefore, although sixty years of 
age, was still in the prime of life when God made himself known 
to him in a vision, and required him to leave his own country 
for another which should be made known to him (Acts, vii. 2 
— 4). He must have communicated this mandate to his family; 
for they all went with him from the land of their birth. But 
they proceeded no further than Charan, in another part of Me- 
sopotamia. The cause we know not; but in that neighbour- 
hood they remained sixteen years, when Terah died, at the age 
of 205 years. (Gen. xi. 27 — 32 ). 

6. When Terah was dead, a second and more special call was 
received by Abraham, requiring him not only to- quit his coun- 
try, but his kindred, for a strange land. But this more strict re- 
quirement was accompanied with encouraging promises of bles- 
sedness and renown; and with the obscure intimation of some 
great distant blessing which the families of men should receive 
through him. With that undoubting faith and prompt and un- 
questioning obedience which he always exhibited, and for which 
he is much commended in the sacred books, Abraham separated 
himself from his brother Nahor, and departed. He was accom- 
panied by his nephew Lot ; and as both had large possessions 
of flocks, and herds, and slaves, a large caravan was doubtless 
formed by their union. They crossed the great river Euphra- 
tes ; and, traversing the deserts to the west, at length entered 
the land of Canaan, and first pitched their tents in the beauti- 
ful valley of Moreh, which lies between the mountains of Ebal 
and Gerizim, in which the city of Shechem was afterwards 
built. , 

7. In this early age there were no temples. Men worshipped 
their gods at altars erected in the open air, sometimes amid the 
shade of umbrageous groves. Their more solemn acts of wor- 
ship consisted in the sacrifice of victims from their flocks or 
herds, or oblations of the fruits of the ground — corn, w r ine, and 
oil. So did the patriarchs worship God ; and many were the 
monuments of their piety, in the form of altars, which they 
erected in the land of their sojourning. 

8. The year after Abraham’s entrance into Canaan, a great 
scarcity arose in that land. This was no doubt occasioned by 
the absence of the customary rains. But Egypt, whose fertility 
depends upon the overflowing of the Nile,- was not affected by 
this drought, and continued to afford its usual abundance of* 
corn. To Egypt, therefore, the patriarch repaired. Fearing to 


4 / SECOND CALL OF ABRAHAM. [b. C. 19 & 1 . 

be slain for the sake of his wife Sarah, who was very beautiful, 
Abraham desired her to say that she was his sister. The con- 
sequence was, that the king, hearing of her great beauty, sent 
and took her to his own palace ; in return loading her alleged 
“brother” with valuable gifts, such as befitted his condition — 
camels, asses, sheep and oxen, and men and women slaves. But 
the truth was soon made known, through the grievous disor- 
ders with which the Lord afflicted the king and his household 
as soon as Sarah came under his roof. He therefore sent her 
back ; and after reproving Abraham for his conduct, desired him 
to withdraw from the country, probably fearing what might 
happen through the presence of a man who so manifestly en- 
joyed the special protection of God. 

9. So Abraham returned to Canaan very rich, not only in cat- 
tle, but in silver and gold. Proceeding northward, he came to 
"his former station near Bethel, and encamped there. The in- 
creased substance of Abraham and Lot, made it difficult to find 
sqfficient pastures for the flocks of both in the same neighbour- 
hood, and this led to frequent contentions between their shep- 
herds. They therefore separated ; and Lot removed to the fer- 
tile and well-watered plain at the south end of the Dead Sea, 
part of which is now covered by the waters of that lake. Here 
were the cities of Sodom, Gomorrah, Admah, Zeboim, and Bela 
(afterwards Zoar). This enforced separation from the last of 
his kin, was doubtless*a great grief to Abraham. But he was 
comforted by the renewed promises of God, who again assured 
him of a numerous posterity, and directed him to go forth and 
survey more largely the fine country which was to become their 
heritage. He went first southward, and pitched his tent under 
the shade of a terebinth tree, in the pleasant valley of Mamre, 
near Hebron, where he remained a considerable time. 

10. The Assyrian empire, beyond the Euphrates, appears al- 
ready to have risen to some importance, by reducing many petty 
kings to the condition of tributaries. The strength of these in- 
ferior chiefs appears to have been then employed in distinct and 
foreign expeditions, for the further aggrandisement of the em- 
pire to which they were subject. About four years before Abra- 
ham entered the land of Canaan, of these princes, Chedor- 
laomer, whose own kingdom was Elam (probably Elymais, a 
district of south-western Persia), was intrusted with a command 
to extend the empire in the country west of the Euphrates. This 
he executed by rendering several nations tributary ; and he ap- 
pears to have remained on this side the great river to keep his 
conquests in obedience. After twelve years of subjection, and 
about eight years after the first arrival of Abraham in Canaan, 
some of the conquered nations revolted, and refused any longer 
to send their tribute. Among these were the petty “ kings,” or 
chiefs, in the five cities of the plain to which Lot had with- 
drawn. This brought upon them the vengeance of Chedorlao- 


DEFEAT OF CHEDORLAOMER. 


5 


B. c, 1931.] 

mer, who, with his former confederates, invaded and ravaged 
all the country east of the Jordan, defeated the five kings in a 
pitched battle, and retired with numerous captives and abund- 
ant spoil. Lot was among the captives. No sooner was the 
news of this brought to Abraham, who was still in the valley 
of Mamre, than he called out all his servants who were able to 
bear arms, in number 318, and being joined by a few friendly 
native chiefs, set forth in pursuit. The invaders were overtaken 
near the source of the Jordan ; and Abraham falling upon them 
suddenly by night, put them to utter rout, and pursued them to 
the neighbourhood of Damascus. Thus was Lot delivered, and 
with him were recovered all the captives and spoil which had 
been taken. According to the war laws of the east, all this prey 
had, by the act of recovery, become his own. This right was 
cordially recognised by the king of Sodom ; but with a generous 
pride the patriarch declined to appropriate the smallest portion 
of the spoil, lest it should be in the power of the native princes 
to say that they had made him rich. 

11. His whole conduct on this occasion won the patriarch the 
esteem of the well-disposed native princes. One of them, Mel- 
chisedek {the just king), of whom we know nothing but t'hat he 
also was one of the remaining worshippers of the true God, came 
forth from his town to meet the returning patriarch, blessed him, 
and supplied his people with victuals; and as the priestly func- 
tions were then exercised by kings and chiefs, he offered sacrifi- 
ces for himself and Abraham to “ the most high God, the 
maker of heaven and earth.” After this the patriarch returned 
to his encampment at Mamre. 


CHAPTER II. B. C. 1909 to 1893. 


PATRIARCHS. 

Birth of Ishmael, . . 

. Circumcision instituted, £ 
Sodom destroyed, $ 

Isaac born, 

Hagar dismissed, . . . 



EGYPT. 


B. C. 

1910 Achescus Ocaras, 
jgg^Nitocris, . . . 


1896 

1893 


b. c. 
1901 
1900 


1. Abraham had been promised a numerous posterity : the 
promise was of some standing, and as yet there were no signs of 
its fulfilment : he had no child, nor seemed likely to have any. 
When he thought of this he was sometimes discouraged ; but 
the Lord condescended to enter into a formal covenant with him, 


6 


BIRTH OF ISHMAEL. 


[b. c. 1910. 


not only to assure him that a son of his own should inherit his 
substance, but that the posterity of that son should become a 
nation, which, after being afflicted many years in a strange land, 
should return to take possession of the beautiful country in 
which he was himself a stranger. But although Abraham was 
to be the father of this promised son, Sarah had not at any time 
been named as its mother. She had always been reputed bar- 
ren ; and now that she was advanced in years, had given over 
all hope of children. She therefore recommended a course 
which was sanctioned by the ideas and usages of these times. 
She proposed that the patriarch should receive her own hand- 
maid, Hagar, as a secondary and inferior wife, and that any 
child which this bond- woman might have, should he counted as 
the child of the mistress. Abraham did not object to this 
course ; and it soon became plain that Hagar would have a 
child. This consideration appears to have made her behave 
unbecomingly towards Sarah; who, in return, treated her so 
harshly, that she fled, and wandered in the southern desert. 
But an angel met her and encouraged her to return to the tents 
of Abraham, where, in due season, she gave birth to a son, who 
was called Ishmael, and who became the founder of a large 
portion of the Arabian bribes. 

2. Thirteen years after the birth of Ismael, when Sarah was 
ninety years old, and Abraham ninety and nine, the Lord again 
appeared to the patriarch, and solemnly renewed his covenant 
to be, in an especial manner, The God of him and of his nu- 
merous race. And as a ratification of this covenant on their 
part, the ceremony of circumcision was instituted, that every 
male in that race should bear upon him a token of this covenant 
with God. And further, when Abraham so spoke as to shew 
that his hope of a posterity was resting on Ishmael, he was as- 
sured that the heir of the covenant was not yet born, and that 
Sarah herself was his destined mother. Even the name (Isaac), 
by which he should be called, was given ; and it was on this 
occasion that the patriarch himself had his name changed from 
Abram to Abraham, and his wife’s name was altered from Sarai 
to Sarah. 

3. It was not long after this that three heavenly beings, in the l 
guise of travellers, accepted’ the hospitality of Abraham. When 
they arose to depart, the patriarch went with them a little way. 
They directed their course towards Sodom ; and as they pro- 
ceeded, the Chief Person, as a mark of his confidence and fa- 
vour, opened to Abraham the design of his present appearance 
in these parts. He declared that the iniquity of Sodom, and 
the other cities of the Plain, was very great ; and that such 
enormous wickedness could be no longer allowed to pollute the 
earth, if their present conduct answered to the grievous cry 
which had come before His throne. The two avenging angels 
then went on, and Abfttham, remaining alone with the Lord, 


DESTRUCTION OF SODOM. 


7 


b. c. 1897.] 


and touchingly describing himself as “ but dust and ashes,” de- 
precated his anger, while he took upon him to intercede for the 
devoted cities. This he did with reverential earnestness, until 
the Lord said, that if but ten upright men were found in Sodom, 
it should be saved for their sake. The same evening the two 
angels came to Sodom, and were invited by Lot to spend the 
night under his roof. They yielded to his hospitable importu- 
nity ; and before the night was over, they had full reason to be 
satisfied that the wickedness of the inhabitants was fully an- 
swerable to the cry which had ascended unto God. The doom 
of these cities was therefore sealed ; yet that the innocent 
might not perish with the guilty, the angels warned Lot of the 
impending destruction, and urged his immediate departure from 
the place. Pressed and led by them, he left the town, with his 
wife and two daughters ; and at his intercession, the small city 
of Bela, thenceforth called Zoar, was spared, that it might be a 
place of refuge to him. As they sped over the plain, Sodom 
and the other cities received their doom — “ The Lord rained up- 
on Sodom and Gomorrah, brimstone and fire,” whereby the 
cities, and all their inhabitants, were utterly consumed, and the 
waters of the Dead Sea came over the ground on which they 
had stood. The family of Lot did not wholly escape; for as 
his wife lingered regretfully behind the rest, she was over- 
whelmed ty the destroying shower, which encrusting her body, 
left it standing like “ a pillar of salt.” Lot went to Zoar, hut 
withdrew to a cave in the neighbouring mountains, where he 
became the father of two sons, Moab and Ammon. 

4. Very soon after the destruction of Sodom, Abraham remov- 
ed his encampment to the south-west, into that part of the 
country where the Philistines had already established them- 
selves. Here an adventure happened very similar to that which 
had occurred in Egypt. Uninstructed by experience, Abraham 
pretended that Sarah was his sister. As such sh.e was seen and 
admired by Abimelech, king of Gerar, who sent and took her to 
his own house ; but being warned by God in a dream that she 
was another man’s wife, he restored her to Abraham with val- 
uable gifts, but not without a keen rebuke. 

5. The time at length arrived when Sarah g4vp to her hus- 
band the long-promised blessing of a son. On the eighth day 
he was circumcised, and the name of Isaac was given to him. 
About three years the mother nourished him at her own breast, 
and then a great feast marked the day in which the child was 
weaned (B. C. 1893). The birth of Isaac, the great attention 
which was paid to him, and the consciousness that by him Ish- 
mael was cut off from the heritage of Abraham, were very dis- 
tasteful to Hagar and her son, and at this great feast they took 
no pains to hide their feelings. At this Sarah was highly pro- 
voked, and insisted with Abraham that they should be sent 
away from the camp. The patriarch was very reluctant to take 


8 


BIRTH OF ISAAC. 


[b. c. 1896. 

so harsh a course ; but on receiving an intimation from Heaven 
that this was in accordance with the Divine intentions, and that 
the Lord would care for the posterity of Ishmael, he resisted no 
longer, but sent both the mother and son away, with suitable 
provisions for the journey. 

6. They had not, however, travelled farther than the wilder- 
ness of Beersheba when their supply of water failed, and Ish- 
mael, overcome with heat, thirst, and weariness, declared him- 
self unable to proceed any further. Hagar assisted him to reach 
some shrubs, under the shade of which he lay down ; and his 
mother, not being able to endure the anguish of seeing him die, 
withdrew to a distance. In her grief, an angel of God called to 
her with words of comfort ; he made known to her that there 
was a well of fresh water not far off, and encouraged her by 
renewed predictions of the prosperity of Ishmael. Thus re- 
lieved, they remained among the tribes of the desert ; and, in 
due time, Ishmael was married to a woman of Egypt, became a 
person of note, and was the father of several sons, the founders 
of families and tribes, which formed, and no doubt still form, a 
large portion of the Arabian people, 


CHAPTER III. B. C. 1893 to 1796. 


PATRIARCHS. 


Isaac offered, , 

B. C. 

1871 

Sarah dies, . . 

1859 

Isaac marries, . 

1856 

Jacob and Esau 
born, . . 

1836 

Abraham dies, , 

1821 

Esau marries, . 

1796 


EGYPT. 

B. c. 

Myrtaeus ? . . 

1S90 

Thyosimares ? . 

1880 

Thinillus ? . • 

1866 

Semphucrates, • 

1848 

Menmoph ? . 

ISsO 

The names and 

e- 


ras of the kings 
that followed to 
OsistasenL, B.C. 
1740, are uncer- 
tain. 


GREECE. 

B. C. 

Kingdom of Argos 
founded, . . 1856 

Deluge of Ogyges, 
in Attica, . . 1848 


1. Abraham still remained in the south country, near to Ge- 
rar, where his power and pastoral wealth had much increased ; 
and, as he seemed to manifest no intention of removing, the 
king Abimelech thought it right to court a treaty of alliance 
with him, being the first which history records. To this he was 
probably the more induced, as some anxiety had been experien- 


SACRIFICE ‘OF ISAAC. 


9 


23. c. 1871.] 

ced on account of the wells which Abraham had digged, — an 
act which, as we have already explained, gave to the party by 
whom such wells were made, a kind of appropriate right in 
lands not previously occupied. This matter being adjusted, and 
the rights of the patriarch being recognised by the king, the de- 
sired covenant was formed between them, and confirmed by an 
oath. It amounted to little more than that the contracting par- 
ties, and their heirs after them, should act with truth towards 
each other. In memory of this transaction, Abraham gave the 
name of Beersheba ( oath of the well ) to the well in question ; 
and, the situation being agreeable and convenient, he remained 
there many years, and planted a grove of trees round the altar 
at which he worshipped God. 

2. When Isaac had attained the age of twenty-five years, it 
pleased God to prove Abraham by one great trial of his faith and 
obedience. He was commanded to journey to a mountain in 
Canaan, and there to offer up his son Isaac in sacrifice to God. 
Firmly persuaded that since God had promised him a posterity 
through Isaac, we would even raise him again from the dead, 
rather than allow his promise to fail (Heb. xi. 17-19), the “fa- 
ther of the faithful” prepared to render full, however heart- 
rending, obedience to this extraordinary mandate. He travel- 
led to the appointed place ; he built an altar, and laid thereon the 
wood for the fire ; he bound his beloved son with cords ; and 
his hand was uplifted to give him the death-wound, when he 
was arrested by a voice from heaven with words of encourage- 
ment and praise, and by a more than ever solemn confirmation 
to him and to his race of all the blessings that had before been 
promised. A ram, which was found entangled by the horns in 
a thicket, was substituted for Isaac upon the altar, and the fa- 
ther returned rejoicing to Beersheba with his son. 

3. Twelve years after this Sarah died, in the 127th year of 
her age. Abraham had before this removed his camp from 
Beersheba to his old station at Mamre, near Hebron, or to some 
other spot in that neighbourhood ; and as it now had become 
necessary that he should have a family sepulchre in which to 
lay his dead, he purchased for 400 shekels of silver the field 
and cave of Machpelah, near Hebron. Here Sarah was buried ; 
and thus a sepulchre became to the patriarchs the earnest of 
their reversionary heritage. 

4. Three years after this, when Isaac had reached the age of 
forty years, Abraham besought himself of seeking a wife for 
his son. The state of religion and morals in Canaan, and the 
special nature of the promises made to his race, condhrred with 
the usual habits and notions of a pastoral chief, in leading his 
attention to his own family, which he had left in Mesopotamia, 
of whose welfare he had a few years before received intelli- 
gence. He therefore gave it in solemn charge to his old and 
confidential servant Eltezer to travel thither, and, if possible, to 


10 


MARRIAGE OF ISAAC. 


[b. c. 1856. 

obtain thence a wife for Isaac. Eliezer sped well on his jour- 
ney. On his first arrival at Charan, he fell in with Rebekah, 
the grandaughter of Abraham’s brother Nahor, and received 
kind attentions from her, and from the family when he arrived 
at the house. When he made known the object of his journey, 
the proposed alliance was accepted without hesitation. Re- 
bekah herself, on whom the choice fell, made no objections ; 
and she therefore, accompanied by her nurse Deborah, was 
soon on the way to Canaan with Eliezer and his men. They 
arrived safely there ; all parties were well pleased ; and Re- 
bekah became the wife of Isaac. 

5. Not long after, Abraham took to himself a second wife, 
named Keturah, by whom he had six sons, named Zimran, Jok- 
shan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah, all of whom were 
provided for by their father during his lifetime, and sent to set- 
tle in Arabia Petrsea, lest at his death they should interfere with 
his heir Isaac. They became the founders of Arabian tribes 
and nations, — one of which, Midian, makes some figure in the 
early history of Isaac’s descendants. Nothing more is recorded 
of Abraham until his death, which occurred at what was even 
then considered the advanced age of 175 years — just 100 years 
after his arrival in Canaan. His body was laid beside that of 
Sarah, in the sepulchral cave of Machpelah. 

6. Rebekah, the wife of Isaac, presented her husband with 
two sons, twins, of whom the first-born was named Esau, and 
the other Jacob (B. C. 1836.) They were fifteen years of age 
when their grandfather Abraham died. As they grew up, the 
brothers manifested very different dispositions ; Esau was a rude 
and boisterous man, devoted to the sports of the field ; while 
Jacob was of a sedate and quiet disposition, much employed in 
the cares and duties of pastoral life. Before their birth, it had 
been intimated to the mother, that the younger of the two was 
the destined heir of the promises ; and this, together with his 
gentle disposition, rendered Jacob very dear to Rebekah ; but 
the love of Isaac, although himself a quiet man, was more en- 
gaged by the first-born, Esau. Not knowing, or not rightly un- 
derstanding, or not having much confidence in, the intimation 
which had been given to his wife, Isaac was still disposed to 
consider Esau as the heir of the promises, knowing which, Re- 
bekah was always contriving to bring about by craft and man- 
agement the designs which the Lord would have accomplished 
without her aid. Jacob, in his early life, much resembled his 
mother in these respects ; but time, trouble, and experience, 
made him a much better man in his later years. 

7. The first object was to get from Esau a formal renuncia- 
tion of his birth-right; on which, in truth, Esau himself set so 
little value, that he readily agreed to barter it for a mess of sa- 
voury pottage, which, one day, when he came home faint and 
hungry from hard hunting, he found Jacob preparing. It does 


b. c. 1805.] 


ESAU SELLS HIS BIRTHRIGHT, 


11 


not appear to us that he renounced, or that Jacob sought, the 
ordinary secular right of the first-born to a double portion of the 
father’s goods ; but the peculiar blessing and promises of the 
Abrahamic covenant, which all parties supposed must hence- 
forth descend in the line of progeniture, unless God otherwise 
specially determined, or unless the party interested abandon- 
ed his claim. All the parties seemed to have laboured under 
some mistake in this matter ; and Esau’s light estimation of his 
supposed privilege, was no less reprehensible than Jacob’s over 
anxiety to secure what he believed to be intended for him. 

8. After this there was a famine in the land of Canaan, and 
Isaac would probably have withdrawn into Egypt, had he not 
been commanded by the Lord to remain in the land which was 
the destined inheritance of his race. On this occasion, the pro- 
mise of that heritage, and of all the other blessings of the cov- 
enant with Abraham, was repeated to Isaac, who then remov- 
ed into the territories of the Philistines, where another Abime- 
lech than he who had entered into covenant with Abraham, 
reigned. During his residence in Gerar, Isaac denied his wife, 
as his father Abraham had done in the same country, and for 
the same reason; for which he also incurred the just rebuke of 
the reigning king. While in this quarter, Isaac paid some at- 
tention to the culture of the soil, which repaid him a hundred 
fold; and in this and other ways, his wealth and power so ra- 
pidly increased, as to excite the alarm and jealousy of the Phi- 
listines, who filled up the wells which gave him a right to the 
soil, and whose king at length desired him to withdraw to a 
greater distance. The patriarch accordingly proceeded to the 
more open pastures, which his father had occupied, and there 
digged again, without opposition, the wells of Abraham. But 
his attempts to dig new wells were vehemently resisted by the 
Philistine shepherds, until hedid so at such a distance, that they 
no longer interfered. In this situation, his still growing pros- 
perity suggested to Abimelech the propriety of renewing with 
the powerful nomad chief the convention which his own prede- 
cessor made with Abraham. The king, therefore, went from Ge- 
rar to the camp of Isaac, whom he treated in all respects as an 
equal. He and his attendants were properly feasted by the pa- 
triarch, who, after a becoming remonstrance as to the treatment 
he had received, consented to renew the covenant of peace. — 
At the age of forty, Esau married two women of Canaan, and 
thereby gave much pain to his parents, whose views in such 
matters were the same as those which Abraham had entertain- 
ed. 


12 


CHAPTER IV. B. C. 1796 to 1739. 


PATiUARCHS. 

B. c. 

Ishmael dies, .... 


Jacob leaves Palestine, . 

. 1759 

Reuben born, .... 

. 1758 

Simeon born, .... 

. 1757 

Levi born, 

. 1756 

Judah born, 

. 1755 

Joseph born, .... 

. 1745 

Jacob returns, .... 

. 1739 


EGYPT, 

B. C. 

Uncertain till Osistasen I. . 1740 


1. When Jacob was 77 years old, and Isaac 137, we find the 
patriarchal family again at Beersheba. By that time Isaac’s 
sight had failed him; and he expected that he had not long to 
live. He therefore determined to bestow that blessing which 
the patriarchal fathers were wont to give to their sons in their 
last days, and to which much importance was attached, because 
on such occasions an influence from above enabled them to in- 
terpret the designs of the Almighty towards those whom they 
addressed. The blessings of the Abrahamic covenant, which 
God intended for Jacob, the fond Isaac now proposed to bestow 
on Esau. This he made known to him ; but first sent him out 
into the fields to hunt, that with the game he might prepare one 
of those savoury messes with which he had been in the habit 
of gratifying the appetite of his aged father. All this was over- 
heard by Rebekah, who instantly determined to frustrate the de- 
sign by artifice. She dressed Jacob in his brother’s clothes, and 
persuaded him to personate Esau, and thus obtain from his 
blind father the important blessing : “ Let people serve thee, 
and nations bow down to thee : be lord over thy brethren, and 
let thy mother’s sons bow down to thee: cursed be every one 
that curseth thee, and blessed be every one that blesseth thee !” 
Jacob had scarcely withdrawn, when the entrance of Esau re- 
vealed the deception which had been practised. Isaac was sei- 
zed with consternation when he discovered that his intention 
had been counteracted. But convinced that he had been rashly 
attempting to act in opposition to the Divine will, and that the 
whole matter had been overruled by a higher power, he made 
no attempt to recall the blessing he had bestowed on Jacob, but 
rather confirmed it by the emphatic declaration, “Yea, and he 
shall be blessed.” 

2. The grief and rage of Esau at being thus circumvented by 
his brother were very great. He earnestly begged another 
blessing for himself, and obtained one which involved the prom- 
ise that although his posterity should for a while be subject to 


JAGOB LEAVES PALESTINE. 


13 


b. c. 1759.] 

that of Jacob, yet in the end they should throw off the yoke, 
and establish their independence. All the parties in this trans- 
action were much to blame ; Rebekah and Jacob, especially, 
were guilty of the sins of doing evil that good might come, and 
of promoting by fraudulent means the intentions of G-od, in ef- 
fecting which their aid was not needful. 

3. Esau cherished the most inexorable resentment against Ja- 
cob for what he had done. He vowed to be revenged by the 
death of his brother ; but out of regard for his father, purposed 
to wait till after his death. This came to the ears of Rebekah, 
who thereupon persuaded Jacob to withdraw for a time to her 
brother Laban in Mesopotamia. Not to trouble the mind of the 
aged Isaac, she forbore to tell him the principal reason for this 
course, but assigned another, which was also true, being her 
fear lest Jacob should follow the example of his brother in mar- 
rying one of the women of the country in which they lived. 
Isaac, therefore, called Jacob, and charged him not to do this, 
but to go and obtain for a wife one of the daughters of Laban, 
his mother’s brother. 

4. Dismissed with his father’s blessing, the heir of the pro- 
mises set forth upon his journey. On his way, he was encour- 
aged by an important vision at Bethel, and in due time arrived 
at Charan ; and when he came to the well outside that city, he 
found a great number of persons of both sexes assembled there 
to water their flocks. Among them he discovered Rachel, the 
daughter of Laban, who had charge of the home flock. Hav- 
ing watered the flock for her, he told her who he was, and went 
with her to her father’s house. He was well received by La- 
ban, to whom he made his circumstances known. In a short 
time that person discovered that Jacob had a very superior 
knowledge of pastoral affairs, and became anxious to retain his 
services in the management of his flocks. He offered him wa- 
ges ; but Jacob, who had much love for his cousin whom he 
had met at the well, but had no means of paying the price 
which custom required a man to give to the father of the wo- 
man he married, offered Laban seven years services for Rachel. 
Laban consented ; and when the time came, made a great feast 
to celebrate his daughter’s marriage ; but instead of giving Ja- 
cob the youngest daughter according to agreement, he managed 
by some deception to substitute Leah, the eldest, for whom Ja- 
cob had no regard. 

5. Next day, when the fraud was discovered, Laban excused 
himself by saying that the custom of the country would not 
permit the younger daughter to be given in marriage before the 
elder; and coolly added, that now the elder was married, he 
might have the other also, if he chose to serve other seven 
years for her. Jacob, who saw no remedy, and who greatly 
loved Rachel, agreed to this proposal ; and after a p'roper inter- 
val, she was given to him. He had now two wives, as the cus- 

B 


14 . 


Jacob’s marriage. 


[b. c. 1775. 

tom of the country allowed. As might be expected, Rachel 
was much dearer to him than Leah, whom he treated with 
comparative neglect ; but the Lord, who hates injustice, restor- 
ed the balance in this matter, by giving Leah children, which 
were withheld from Rachel. Leah bore successively four sons, 
whom she named Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah. As chil- 
dren are greatly desired by the Orientals, and were more espe- 
cially desirable to him whose posterity was to become a great 
nation, this gave to Leah an advantage over her sister, which 
vexed Rachel. She therefore gave her handmaid Bilhah to Ja- 
cob, in the same way, and with the same intention, as that with 
which Sarah gave Hagar to Abraham, Rachel intending, that 
if there were children, they should be considered her own. Bil- 
hah had two sons, whom Rachel named Dan and Napthali. On 
this, Leah would not be denied the right of giving also hei 
handmaid Zilpah to Jacob. She bore two sons, Gad and Ash- 
er, in addition to whom Leah herself had two more sons, Issa- 
char and Zebulun, and one daughter named Dinah. At last, al- 
ter many years repining, Rachel herself had a son, who receiv- 
ed the name of Joseph. 

6. The fourteen years which Jacob had agreed to serve La- 
ban for his two daughters were expired, and he now expressed an 
intention of returning to the land of Canaan. But Laban, con- 
vinced that the Lord had blessed him greatly for Jacob’s sake, 
and that all his affairs had prospered in his hands, earnestly en- 
treated him to remain, offering whatever recompence for his 
further services he might demand. As he was still poor, and 
felt it a duty to provide for his own house, Jacob found it pru- 
dent to accept this offer, and named the party-coloured sheep 
and goats which might henceforth be born in the flocks as the 
reward of his cares. As pied animals are very rare in Syrian 
flocks, Laban eagerly agreed to this proposal. " By forming into 
a separate flock, and removing to a distance all the animals 
which were already party-coloured, leaving all the rest under 
the care of Jacob, he took means to prevent the inordinate in- 
crease of such as were to become his nephew’s share ; but, on 
the other hand, Jacob, by an ingenious contrivance, endeavoured 
to promote their increase, and with such success, that a very 
few years sufficed to render his portion of the flocks greater 
than Laban’s. 

7. Annoyed at the discontent and envy, which Laban and his 
sons took no pains to conceal, longing to be at home, and deem- 
ing his present wealth sufficient, Jacob, after six years more of 
servitude, making twenty years in all, determined to return 
to Canaan. But fearing that Laban might oppose his depart- 
ure, he took an occasion of removing clandestinely, with his 
wives and children, his flooks and herds. Three days passed 
before Laban heard of his departure, and with his relations and 
retainers he set off in pursuit. In seven days he traversed the 


b. c. 1739,] Jacob’s return to canaan. 


15 


distance for which Jacob, encumbered with flocks and herds, 
had required ten days, and overtook him in the mountains of 
Gilead. It had, doubtless, been the intention of Laban either 
to compel Jacob to return, or to despoil him of his wealth ; but 
the night before they met, he had been warned in a dream 
against committing any injurious or hostile act. Therefore, 
when they met the next day, he confined himself to reproofs, 
which Jacob retorted with great spirit and much truth ; and in 
the end they came to a good understanding, and entered into a 
covenant of peace ; after which they parted, Laban returning 
home, and Jacob pursuing his journey. 

8. Jacob’s next anxiety was to ascertain the disposition to- 
wards him of his brother Esau, to evade whose wrath he had 
quitted the land of Canaan twenty years before. Meanwhile, 
Esau himself had become a person of consequence, and had es- 
tablished himself in great power as a military chief in the 
mountains ofSeir. Thither Jacob sent messengers to announce 
his return, which they were instructed to do in terms of the ut- 
most deference and respect. In due time the messenger re- 
turned with the alarming intelligence that Esau himself was 
advancing at the head of 400 men. He much feared that the 
intentions of his brother were unfriendly ; and he recommend- 
ed himself, in an earnest prayer, to the protection of God. It 
was night : his caravan had already passed the Jabbok, and he 
remained behind to renew his supplications in the solitude. 
While he was thus engaged, an angel of God appeared and strug- 
gled with him, in wrestling, for a long while, and refrained 
from overcoming the mortal man with whom he conflicted, 
until the morning broke ; and then, to evince his power, he laid 
his hand upon the holiow of Jacob’s thigh, when instantly the 
sinew shrank, and he halted with lameness. Yet Jacob left not 
his hold of the angel, but cried, “ I will not let thee go except 
thou bless me !” The angel asked him, “ What is thy name V* 
He answered, “Jacob.” Then said the angel, “ thy name shall 
he called no more Jacob, but Israel ( prince of God) ; for as a 
prince hast thou power with God, and with men, and hast pre- 
vailed.” He then received the blessing for which he strove, 
and derived all the intended encouragement from this mysteri- 
ous interview. Israel then joined his family on the other side 
the Jabbok. The intentions of Esau may have been hostile ; 
but his heart was so wrought upon by the sight of his long ab- 
sent brother and his peaceful troop, that he ran to meet him, 
and fell upon his neck and kissed him, and they wept together. 


16 


CHAPTER V. B. C. 1739 to 1708. 


Benjamin born, 

Joseph sold, 

Joseph imprisoned, . . . . 


b. c. 
1734 
1728 
1718 


B. C. 

Isaac dies, . . . \ V V "^] 1716 
Joseph Governor of Egypt, . | 1715 
Famine begins, ] 1708 


1. Israel made some stay at Succoth, after which he pro- 
ceeded to the valley between Mounts Ebal and G-erizim, where 
Abraham first encamped on entering the Land of Promise. A 



Mounts Ebal and Gerizim. 


city had since been built there, and the land appropriated, so 
that Jacob was obliged to purchase the ground on which he 
pitched his tents. Here a friendly understanding, and a mutu- 
ally advantageous traffic, soon arose between this family of 
shepherds and the townspeople: the former could supply milk 
and wool, and skins, and animals for use and slaughter: for 
which the latter could give the products of their fields and gar- 
dens, and the utensils, cloths, arms, and ornaments, which 
towns usually produce. But it unfortunately happened that 
ohechem, the son of Hamor, the prince of the country, saw 
Dinah, Jacob’s daughter, at a public festival in the town, and, 
becoming enamoured of her, allured her from her father’s pro- 
tection to his own house, where he detained her with the 


BIRTH OF BENJAMIN, 


17 


B. c. 1734.] 

promise and intention of marriage. The young man opened 
the matter to his father, and persuaded him to go out to Jacob’s 
camp, and make proposals of maniage to him. 

. 2. Jacob was much grieved, and his sons were fired with in- 
dignation, at the dishonour which the family had received ; and 
at first refused to listen to the liberal offers which Hamor made. 
At last, however, they acceded to the proposed marriage, on con- 
dition that all the Shechemites should receive the rite of circum- 
cision. To this the townspeople were induced by Hamor to 
consent ; and on the third day, when they were least able to de- 
fend themselves, Simeon and Levi, full brothers of Dinah, en- 
tered the town, with some of their father’s men, and slew all 
the male inhabitants, to avenge the indignity offered to their 
sister, whom they took away to the camp. After this the other 
sons of Jacob came and plundered the place, bringing the 
women and children away as captives. Jacob was greatly dis- 
tressed and alarmed at this atrocious action of his sons ; and 
was glad to withdraw, in accordance with a divine intimation, 
from a neighbourhood stained by so great a crime, to Bethel. 

3. From Bethel Jacob proceeded southward, probably with 
the intention of rejoining his aged father, who was still alive, 
and who abode in the plain of Mamre, near Hebron. When 
they were near Ephrath (afterwards Bethlehem), Rachel was 
delivered of a second son, named Benjamin ; and she died in 
giving him birth. The bereaved husband honoured the grave 
of his beloved wife with a sepulchral pillar, which long after 
stood there ; but which is now replaced by a Mohammedan 
monument. Israel removed from Ephrath, to a pasture ground 
in which stood a tower, called The Tower of the Flock ; and, 
after some stay there, at length joined his old father in Mamre, 
and remained with him till his death. This did not occur till 
sixteen years after, when Isaac had reached the advanced age 
of 180 years. Esau was also present, and joined with Jacob in 
rendering the last offices of filial duty to their father, whose re- 
mains were deposited in the cave of Machpelah, with those of 
Sarah and Abraham. After this Esau withdrew, with the por- 
tion of the property which fell to him, to his former residence 
in the mountains of Seir, where his posterity became a consid- 
erable nation. At the time of Isaac’s death, Jacob was 120 
years old. He continued still at Mamre, engaged, with his sons, 
in the usual pastoral employments. 

4. The history now conducts us to Joseph, the eldest of Rach- 
el’s two sons. His beauty, his engaging qualities, his early 
wisdom, and, more than all, his having been for many years 
(before Benjamin was born) the only son of Rachel, had given 
him the first place in his father’s love. This partiality may 
have been natural; but Jacob most unwisely displayed it be- 
fore his other sons, by clothing his favourite in a gaudy “coat 
of many colours.” This, and other things, so moved the envy 


18 


DEATH OF JOSEPH. 


[b. c. 1728. 

and jealousy of the brothers, that “ they could not speak peace- 
ably to him and he especia^y offended the sons of Bilhah and 
Zilpah, by reporting to Jacob their misbehaviour when out with 
the flocks. The general ill-feeling of his brothers towards him 
was not a little strengthened by his account of certain dreams 
with which he was favoured, and which could only be interpre- 
ted to prefigure his own future greatness, and their humilia- 
tion before him. At length their hatred rose to such a height, 
that they resolved to get rid of him by death, as soon as a fa- 
vourable opportunity should occur. 

5. They had for some time been out with the flocks in dis- 
tant pastures, when Israel sent Joseph to inquire after their 
welfare (B. C. 1728). As soon as he came in sight, they re- 
solved to kill him ; but were prevented by Reuben, who wish- 
ed to deliver him out of their hands, and persuaded them to 
cast him into an empty pit. Afterwards, by the advice of Ju- 
dah, they drew him out and sold him for a slave to a caravan 
of Ishmaelitish and Midianitish merchants, who were going 
Avith costly drugs to Egypt. The brothers then took Joseph’s 
coat — the coat of many colours — and dipped it in the blood of a 
kid, to induce the belief thathe hadbeen killed by a wild beast. 
They then sent it home to their father, who, receiving the im- 
pression they intended to convey, was overwhelmed with an- 
guish. He rent his clothes, put on sackcloth, and mourned for 
his son many days. This was about three years after Jacob 
had joined his father Isaac at Mamre. 

6. MeanAvhile Joseph Avas taken to Egypt, and sold to Poti- 
phar, captain of the guard to Pharaoh,* king of Egypt. By his 
abilities and excellent conduct, he Avon the entire confidence of 
his master, who in the end left all his affairs in his hands. But 
after serving Potiphar Avith great integrity and success for ten 
years, he Avas then thrown into prison, on account of a false ac- 
cusation by his mistress, Avhose guilty enticements he had re- 
pelled. In the prison his character and talents Avere soon ap- 
preciated by the governor, Avho committed all the other prison- 
ers to his charge. Among these were the king’s chief butler 
and chief baker — officers of some consequence in Eastern courts. 
These were both in one night troubled Avith remarkable dreams, 
Avhich Joseph modestly undertook to interpret, and the event 
corresponded Avith his interpretations — the butler Avas restored 
to favour, and the baker A\ r as hanged. 

7. Two years after this, the king of Egypt himself had two 
very singular dreams in one night, which troubled him greatly, 
especially Avhen he found that none of his diviners were able to 
discover their meaning. On this the chief butler called to mind 
Joseph’s most true interpretation of his OAvn and his compan- 

* Pharaoh, or Pharah, is not a name, but a title, meaning 11 king,” 
which accounts for its being given in Scripture to nearly all the sover- 
eigns of that country of whom it takes notice. 


19 


B. C. 1716 .] JOSEPH GOVERNOR OF EGYPT. 

# 

ion’s dream in prison, and spoke of it to the king. Pharaoh im- 
mediately sent to the prison for him ; and when he stood be- 
fore the king, related to him his dreams. Modestly disclaim- 
ing the wisdom which the king supposed him to possess, and 
ascribing all the honour to the God whom he served, Joseph 
told the king that the two dreams were to be received as a 
warning from God, that seven years of extreme plenty in Egypt 
would be succeeded by seven years of unexampled scarcity. 
He then proceeded to give such sound advice, as to the mode in 
which the over produce of the seven years of plenty might be 
husbanded for use during the seven years of famine, that Pha- 
raoh at once determined to invest him with the power and sta- 
tion necessary for giving effect to the measures he had advised. 
By taking off his signet-ring, and placing it on Joseph’s finger, 
he conveyed to him such high powers as made him next in 
authority to the king. He was then arrayed in the vestures of 
fine muslin and the chain of gold which belonged to his high 
place, and, standing in the royal chariot, he was conducted in 
grand procession through the metropolis, and proclaimed chief 
minister and governor of Egypt. Joseph was thirty years old 
when he attained this high advancement. Soon after, Pharaoh, 
in order to strengthen Joseph’s position by connecting him with 
distinguished families, gave him in marriage a lady of high 
rank — Asenath, daughter of Potipherah, high-priest of On, by 
whom he ultimately had two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. 

8; During the seven years of plenty, Joseph travelled through 
all the provinces, making surveys, building granaries, and fill- 
ing them with corn. The effects of the years of scarcity which 
followed, were felt not only in Egypt but in all the adjacent 
countries, the inhabitants of which soon flocked to Egypt to 
purchase corn from the well-filled granaries of Joseph. The 
private stores of the Egyptians themselves were soon spent, and 
they became dependent upon the public stock, out of which 
they bought corn until they had nothing but their persons and 
their lands left to them. Then, at their own desire, Joseph 
bought their lands for the crown at the cost of supplying therri 
with food during the scarcity; and for the convenience of dis- 
tribution, he assembled the people of every district into the 
towns in which the corn Avas stored ; and when the famine 
was nearly ended, he gave them seed, and restored them their 
lands to farm at the fixed crown-rent of one-fifth of the produce. 
We have explained this procedure, because it appears to have 
been of late much misunderstood. 


go 


CHAPTER VI. B. C. 1708 to 1635. 


PATRIARCHS. 

B. C. 

Jacob sends his sons to Egypt for 
corn, .... 1707 

Jacob and his family go to E- 
gypt, . . . . 1706 

End of the Famine, . . . 1702 

Jacob dies, 1682 

Joseph dies, 1635 


J2GYPT. 

B. C. 

Amun.m-gori I., . . , . 1696 

Amun-m-gori II., .... 1686 

Osistasen II., 1651 


1. Among the foreigners who repaired to Egypt to buy corn, 
in the first year of the famine, were the brethren of Joseph. As 
they stood “ and bowed themselves before him, with their faces 
bowed to the earth,” and thus accomplished what was predict- 
ed by the dreams which they had so criminally endeavoured to 
frustrate, they little thought of their brother ; but he knew them 
well. To try their present dispositions, he spoke roughly to 
them, and accused them of being spies, “ come to spy the nak- 
edness of the land.” This was a most grave and dangerous 
charge, coming from such a quarter. This they felt ; and, in 
their anxiety to repel it, gave a particular account of their real 
condition, from which Joseph learned that his father still lived, 
and that his favourite son, their younger brother, had remained 
at home with him. Joseph seized hold of this, and made the 
appearance of that younger brother before him, the test of their 
sincerity, and decided that one of them should go for him, and 
the rest remain in custody till that one returned with Benjamin. 
Meanwhile they were all cast in prison ; but on the third day he 
spoke more gently to them, and directed that they should all go 
except Simeon, who was to be detained as a hostage for their 
return. Their troubled consciences interpreted the difficulties 
into which they had fallen, as a divine judgment upon them for 
the treatment of their brother; and, as they freely expressed 
this to one another, not supposing “ the governor of the coun- 
try” could understand them, Joseph was much moved, and turn- 
ed from them and wept. He gave them provisions for the 
journey, and caused the money they had paid for corn to be pri- 
vily restored in their sacks. 

2. When they reached home they gave their father a full ac- 
count of the strange behaviour of “ the man, the governor of 
the land.” He was much disconcerted at the demand for Ben- 
jamin, and refused to let him go. But, when the corn was all 
consumed, and Jacob desired his sons to go to Egypt for more, 
they absolutely refused again to appear before “ the governor* 
without Benjamin. At length, with extreme difficulty, they 
extorted his consent, Judah making himself individually respon- 
sible for Benjamin’s safe return. Anxious to make a favourable 


B. C. 1702.] JACOB SENDS HIS SONS INTO EGYPT. 21 

impression upon the much dreaded “man” in Egypt, Jacob sent 
him a present of the choice products of the land of Canaan — 
balm and honey, spices and myrrh, nuts and almonds. 

3. They arrived in Egypt, and again stood before Joseph, who 
no sooner saw Benjamin than he expressed his satisfaction, and 
set Simeon free. He asked them concerning that old man of 
whom they had spoken, their father ; and was obliged to with- 
draw to indulge that burst of emotion which the sight of his 
brother inspired. He feasted them sumptuously that day, and 
the next morning allowed them to depart with the com they 
required. But, to try their feelings towards Benjamin, he caus- 
ed his own silver cup to be secretly introduced into the mouth 
of his corn-sack, that he might see whether, when Benjamin 
should be charged with the theft, they would leave him to his 
fate, and go homo without him. Accordingly, after they had 
left the town, they were overtaken by a party of Joseph’s ser- 
vants, who ordered them to stop, and charged them with hav- 
ing stolen their master’s silver cup. Ashamed at this accusa- 
tion, but conscious of their innocence, they expressed their rea- 
diness to be searched, and declared that any one with whom 
the cup might be found deserved to die. When the cup was 
found in Benjamin’s sack, they returned with the supposed cul- 
prit to the city, and once more stood before the governor of the 
land. They fell on their faces before him, and, in answer to 
his reproaches, declared themselves his bondsmen, without at- 
tempting to deny or vindicate the apparent guilt of their brother. 
But Joseph told them it was right that only the guilty should 
suffer. Benjamin, therefore, he would detain in bondage, but 
they might go home. Judah then interceded, and, in a most 
eloquent and touching address, evinced the most tender affection 
towards his brother and his aged father ; and, declaring the spe- 
cial trust he had incurred, entreated to be taken as a bondsman 
in the stead of Benjamin. The governor could contain himself 
no longer. He made himself known to them ; — “ I am Joseph ! 
Doth my father yet live ?” Perceiving them overwhelmed with 
apprehension and remorse, he endeavoured to comfort and re- 
assure them, by directing their attention to the designs of Pro- 
vidence: “Be not grieved or angry with yourselves, that ye 
sold me hither ; for God did send me before you to preserve life.” 
He then embraced them all, and opened to them his desire that 
they should return and bring their father and their families 
down to Egypt, where they would enjoy plenty during the re- 
maining years of famine ; and he would procure them a grant 
of the pastoral district of Goshen for their residence. 

4. Joyful was their return, and rapturous their announcement 
to their father “ Joseph is yet alive !— and is governor over 
all the land of Egypt!” Jacob’s heart fainted, and he believed 
them not. Twenty years he had mourned his beloved Joseph 
as dead ; and it was not easy at once to receive so great a joy. 


22 JACOB AND HIS FAMILY GO TO EGYPT, [jB. C. 1706. 

When, at length, their solemn assurance created belief, he said, 
“It is enough; Joseph, my son, is yet alive; I will go down 
and see him before I die !” So Jacob left Canaan with all his 
family and possessions. On the way he paused to worship at 
the old family altar at Beersheba, and was there favoured with 
the intimation from God that the purpose of His providence was, 
that his race should tarry in Egypt to grow into a great nation 
there ; and that, as such, they should then march forth to take 
possession of the land of Canaan, their promised inheritance. 
Jacob’s family, consisting of his sons, with their wives and chil- 
dren, at the time it entered Egypt, consisted of seventy-five* per- 
sons. (Acts, vii. 14.) On entering Egypt, Jacob sent Judah to 
give notice of his arrival to Joseph, who immediately rode forth 
in his chariot to meet his father, who, when he saw him, “ fell 
upon his -neck, and wept on his neck a good while;” and, as 
soon as he could speak, he said, “ Now, let me die, since I have 
seen thy face ; because thou art yet alive.” Joseph conducted 
them into the land of Goshen, which they were to occupy. 
Having left their flocks and herds there, they went to the me- 
tropolis, and were introduced by Joseph to the king, the father 
separately, and the sons together. Pharaoh was much struck 
by the venerable aspect of the patriarch, and asked him how 
old he was. He answered — “ The days of the years of my pil- 
grimage are a hundred and thirty years : few and evil have the 
days of the years of my life been, and have not attained unto the 
days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their 
pilgrimage.” 

6. Jacob and his family, having taken possession of the dis- 
trict of Goshen, remained there undisturbed in their usual pas- 
toral employments for seventeen years, at the end of which, Ja- 
cob, being then 147 years old, felt that his last hours drew nigh. 
He therefore called his sons together to tell them, in the spirit 
of prophecy, what should befall them and their tribes in the 
coming times. As they all stood around him, he gave utterance, 
in the most beautiful language, replete with poetical images, 
to a wonderful series of predictions respecting the future char- 
acter, ciifcumstances, and situation of the tribes which were to 
spring from his several sons. To Judah was allotted the pre- 
eminence, and a more especial interest in the promises of the 
covenant ; nor was it obscurely intimated that in that tribe was 
to arise the promised Deliverer, whose coming was the main 
object of the Hebrew covenant, and of the Jewish polity as es- 
tablished in after years. Joseph was eminently favoured with a 
double portion ; for Jacob adopted his two sons, Ephraim and 

* In Gen. xlvi. 27, we read u seventy.” The reason of the difference is 
this : Jacob’s eleven sons and a daughter, and their children and grandchil- 
dren, made sixty-six persons, to whom the account in Acts adds the nine 
wives of Jacob’s eleven sons. The account in Genesis omits these wives, 
but make the number seventy by adding to the sixty-six Jacob himself, and 
Joseph, with his two sons, already in Egypt. 


DEATH OP JACOB. 


23 


B. c. 1689.] 

Manasseh, as his own children, thereby making them heads of 
tribes, and entitling them, as such, to be counted as two tribes 
in the commonwealth of Israel ; but, at the same time, Jacob 
intimated that the tribe of the younger son Ephraim would take 
a leading part in the nation, and be greater and more renowned 
than the tribe of the elder Manasseh. 

6. When he had finished blessing his sons, Israel gathered 
up his feet into the bed, and died. Joseph fell upon the face of 
his dead father, kissed him, and closed his eyes. Egypt held a 
solemn mourning for him. His body was embalmed after the 
manner of the Egyptians, and carried with great state to the 
land of Canaan to be laid in the family sepulchre. Such had 
been his own desire in the unshaken conviction that the Lord 
would restore his race to the land which contained that sepul- 
chre, and give it to them fora possession. In the same convic- 
lon Joseph himself, fifty-four years after, and just before his 
death, being then 110 years old, sent for his brethren, and re- 
quired them, on behall of the family, to swear to carry up his 
bones from Egypt, and bury them in the Land of Promise ; thus, 
at once, evincing his faith, and taking his last place with the 
Israelites rather than with the Egyptians. He then died ; and, 
as he had only charged them to remove his bones with them 
when the time of their final departure should arrive, his body 
was carefully preserved in a coffin against that time. 


BOOK II. 

CHAPTER I. B. C. 1571 to 1491. 


PATRIARCHS. 

B. C. 

Levi dies, . . 1619 
The new king [dy- 
nasty] in Egypt, 1575 
Aaron born, . . 1574 
Moses born, . . 1571 
Moses quits Egypt, 1531 
Moses returns to 
Egypt and brings 
forth the Israel- 
ites, .... 1491 


EGYPT. 

b. c. 

Osistasen III., . 1636 
Amun-m-gori III., 1621 
Name unknown, . 15£0 
Amosis, . . • • 1575 
Amunoph. . • • 1550 
Thothmes T., . 1532 

Thothmes II., . . 1505 
Thothmes III., . 1495 


EVENTS AND PERSONS. 

B. C. 

Scamander leads a 
colony from Crete 
and founds Troy,j546 
Cecrops leads a co- 
lony from Sais in 
Egypt, and founds 
Athens, . . . 1556 
Cadmus carries let- 
ters into Greece 
& founds Thebes, 1493 


1. The posterity of Jacob’s sons remained in the land of Go- 
shen, increasing with prodigious rapidity, through the special 
blessing of Providence, who designed to multiply them soon 
into a nation. For many years we know little more oi them; 




24< THE NEW KING (DYNASTY) IN EGYPT, [b. C. 1571. 

but it may be observed Ephraim and Manasseh, the two sons 
of Joseph, instructed by their father to prefer the lot of God’s 
chosen people, very early joined the Israelites in Goshen, and 
followed the same mode of life. All went on very well until 
the accession of a new dynasty to the throne of Lower Egypt 
— probably a foreign dynasty from Upper Egypt, which knew 
little and cared less lor the memory and services of Joseph. 
The new government contemplated with alarm the position 
occupied by an active, closely-united, and rapidly increasing 
body of foreigners in the land of Goshen. It was considered 
that, unless means were taken to reduce and keep down their 
numbers, their power would soon be too great for the Egyptians 
to control. While the troops were elsewhere employed, they 
might get possession of the country, or might at any time ruin 
Egypt, by going- over to its enemies in time of war. 

2. Much of this alarm obviously arose from the fact of their 
living apart by themselves, in Goshen, so that their aggregate 
mass was so apparent as to inspire the Egyptians with appre- 
hension, and the Israelites with confidence. Had they been 
dispersed over Egypt, and intermixed with the native popula- 
tion, nothing of this could have been felt. Knowing how, under 
ordinary circumstances, a population may be kept in check by 
oppression and labour, the Fgyptian government determined to 
reduce the free-born Israelites to the condition of serfs, requir- 
ing them to “ serve with rigour ” in the public works — to dig 
in canals, to cultivate the ground, to build towns and granaries, 
and to make the sun-dried bricks, compacted with straw, of 
which they were constructed. Task-masters were set over 
them to exact the full amount of labour ; and those who failed 
were subjected to severe punishments. But, although the yoke 
of Israel was made very heavy, the population was not checked. 
The more they were oppressed, the more their numbers increas- 
ed. Perceiving this, the king determined to resort to more de- 
cisive measures, and enjoined the Hebrew midwives to destroy 
every male infant in the birth. Fearing God more than they 
feared the king, the midwives disregarded this barbarous order. 
But, determined not to be balked in his politic design, Pharaoh 
no longer stooped to indirect and secret measures, but openly 
commanded that every male child thenceforth born should be 
thrown into the river Nile. 

3. In those days, Jochebed, the wife of Amram, of the tribe 
of Levi, gave birth to a son. She had already two children, a 
son named Aaron, and a daughter called Miriam. For three 
months the mother managed to save her infant from its doom: 
and then finding that she could hide him no longer, she placed 
him among the Hags beside the river, in a basket which had 
been daubed with slime to keep ihe water ou-t. In the good 
providence of God, who intended this infant for great deeds, it 
happened that he had not remained there long before the king’s 
daughter (Thermusus) came to the spot, .attended by her mai- 


MOSES QUITS EGYPT. 


525 


b. c. 1531.] 

dens, to bathe. Perceiving the basket she sent for it, and was 
much struck with the extreme beauty of the child, and moved 
by its infant wail. She knew that it must be a Hebrew child, 
but resolved to save it ; and sent Miriam — who had been watch- 
ing the result — to find a nurse for him. She brought the mo- 
ther, who joyfully received the charge of nursing her own in- 
fant for the king’s daughter. 

4. In due time the boy was taken home to that princess, who 
became attracted to him, regarding him as her son, and gave 
him the name of Moses ( from the water), because she had saved 
him from the water. He was duly instructed in the learning 
and science of the Egyptians — who were then, perhaps, the 
most cultivated people in the world ; and it is said that in due 
time he rose to high employments, and rendered important 
services to the state.* At length it seems to have been consi- 
dered necessary that he should, by some legal form or ceremony, 
be recognized as “ the son of Pharaoh’s daughter,” to qualify 
him for higher distinctions than he had yet attained. But when 
it came to this point, he refused the proposed adoption, and 
chose rather to take his part with the oppressed people to whom 
he by birth belonged. He repaired to the land of Goshen, and 
became an eye-witness of the misery which they still sutFered. 
One day, seeing an Egyptian task-master beating an Israelite, 
he fell upon him, slew him, and hid his body in the sand. The 
next day, in endeavouring to pacify two quarrelling Israelites, 
he was treated with insult, and jeeringly reminded of w.hat he 
had done the day before. Alarmed at finding that the deed 
was known, and fearing the vengeance of the Egyptians, Moses 
fled from the country without delay; being then forty years of age. 

o. Moses travelled eastward, and came to a territory on the 
eastern arm of the Red Sea, occupied by a branch of the family 
descended from Midian, one of Abraham’s sons by Keturah. 
Here, while resting beside a well, he interfered to protect seven 
young women of the country from some shepherds, and drew 
for them the water their flocks required. This led to his intro- 
duction to the father of these damsels, Jethro, the prince and 
priest of Midian, who persuaded the stranger from Egypt to 
take charge of his flocks, and gave him in marriage Zipporah, 
one of his daughters. By her he had two sons, Gershom and 
Eliezer. Forty years Moses fed the flocks of Jethro his father- 
in-law, at proper seasons leading them for pasture to the well- 
watered valleys of Sinai mountains. At the end of that time, 
when he was in this quarter, hard by the Mount Horeb, he was 
startled by seeing a bush burning, and yet remaining uncon- 
sumed. He advanced to examine this wonder ; and as he drew 

* This is not said in the Biblical narrative. But it is probable in itself, 
is affirmed by Josephus (Antiq. ii. 10), and is more than hinted at by St. 
Stephen, who, alluding to this period of Moses’ life, says, he was “ mighty 
in word and deed. ,; (Acts, vii.) 


C 


26 


MOSES RETURNS TO EGYPT. 


[b. c. 1491 . 


near, the voice of God called to him by name from out of the 
hush, forbidding him to come nearer, and admonished him to 
take the sandals off his feet in reverence of the Divine presence, 
which rendered holy the ground on which he stood. The Voice 
then proceeded to announce that the cries of the oppressed He- 
brews had entered heaven, and that the time was now come to 
bring them forth from Egypt, and give them possession of the 
Promised Land. 

6. Moses himself was then required to become the agent for 
working their deliverance; but he shrunk from the responsibili- 
ties and care of this great commission. He excused himself by 
reason of his wanting that persuasive speech which had pow- 
er over men ; to meet which his eloquent brother Aaron was 
oined to the commission : and when Moses persisted, on the 
round that the Israelites were not likely to listen to him, or to 

believe that he had been sent by the God of their fathers, he 
was empowered to work miracles for their conviction. No lon- 
ger able to refuse, Moses took leave of Jethro, and returned to 
Egypt; and as he approached the land of Goshen, was met by 
Aaron, who had in a dream been warned of his coming. The 
brothers called together the elders of Israel, and Moses opened 
to them his commission, and confirmed it by the appointed mira- 
cles; and having satisfied them, they all repaired to the court of 
the reigning king, of whom Moses demanded, in the name of 
Jehovah, the God of the Hebrews, that the descendants of Is- 
rael should be allowed to quit his dominions. The Egyptians 
had, however, by this time, found out the value of their forced 
services, and the king flatly refused to listen to so extraordina- 
ry a proposal. Indeed, affecting to consider such vain notions 
the effect of idleness, he directed their labours to be increased, 
and their bondage to be made more bitter. 

7. Moses was then obliged to resort to “the plagues,” which 
he was commissioned to inflict, in order to compel Pharaoh to 
consent to their departure, and at the same time to demonstrate 
the greatness and power of the God whom the Hebrews wor- 
shipped. The heart of Pharaoh was very hard, and it required 
a succession of the most terrible inflictions to extort his con- 
sent. The waters were changed into blood ; frogs, lice, and 
gnats, successively inundated the land ; a murrain destroyed the 
cattle ; the people were afflicted with painful and noisome ul- 
cers ; a tremendous hail-storm destroyed the fruits of the ground ; 
clouds of locusts consumed all that the hail had left ; and this 
was followed by a thick darkness which overspread all the 
land except that part which the Israelites occupied. By some 
cunning sleight, a few of these miracles were imitated by the 
Egyptian magicians, which much encouraged Pharaoh in his 
obstinacy. At times he wavered ; but as at the end of all these 
plagues he still remained inexorable, one last and terrible inflic- 
tion was threatened, and Moses was apprised that it would be 


B. C. 1491.] MOSES LEADS FORTH THE ISRAELITES. 27 

effectual. This was no less than the sudden death of all the 
first-born in Egypt. Accordingly at midnight, the first-born, 
from the highest to the lowest, were smitten, and there was no 
house from which came not the wail for the dead. This ca- 
lamity, like the others, touched not the Israelites, whose door- 
posts were sprinkled with the blood of a lamb offered up in sa- 
crifice to God, according to his previous appointment. And that 
the memory of this signal distinction, when the Destroyer pass- 
ed over the blood-sprinkled doors of the Israelites, and smote 
the first-born of the Egyptians only, might be preserved to all 
generations, the Lord instituted the feast of the Pass-over;* 
and as a further memorial, he directed that the first-born should 
henceforth be set apart for his service (Exod. vii. to xiii). 

8. Although the king of Egypt had held out so long, the peo- 
ple had been anxious before this that the Israelites should 
be dismissed ; and now they were no longer to be restrained. 
With their dead around them, and not knowing what might be- 
fall them next, they insisted on the instant departure of the Is- 
raelites. The king was not able to resist the popular impulse, 
and perhaps was not at the moment willing, for the first-born 
of the throne lay also dead. He gave his permission, and the 
people in every possible way urged and hastened their going 
forth. The Hebrews, however, took this opportunity of uni- 
versal consternation to demandf the wages of their long and la- 
borious services ; and the Egyptians in their eagerness to get 
them out of the country, were in no humour to contest the mat- 
ter, but hastened to load them with “jewels of gold and jewels 
of silver,” together with costly raiment. This, together with 
their numerous flocks and herds, caused the Israelites to go forth 
from Egypt a wealthy people. They had also become very nu- 
merous; for the men fit to bear arms amounted to six hundred 
thousand, which implies a total population of two and .a half 
millions;]: besides there was a large “ mixed multitude,” which 
chose rather to take their part with the Israelites than to re- 
main in Egypt. Very probably a large proportion of these were 
foreigners who had, like the Israelites, been held in slavery by 
the Egyptians: the rest may have been Egyptians of the lower 
and more despised orders. At all events, this “ mixed” body 
appears from the history to have formed the rabble of the im- 
mense multitude that quitted Egypt 215 years after Jacob and 
his family entered that country, and 430 years after the founder 
of the family went to the land of Canaan. 

9. The ends for which that family had been sent into Egypt 
were now completely answered. Under the protection of the 


* This feast has been mentioned before, 
f Incorrectly rendered “ borrow” in our version. 

! Thus, the men fit to bear arms are seldom half the entire male popula- 
tion ; and this again must be doubled for the males, who are never 
less, and generally more numerous than the females. 


28 


THE ISRADLITES FOLLOW THE PILLAR, [b. C. 1491. 

most powerful people in those parts, and in one of the most fer- 
tile countries in the world, they had rapidly multiplied into a 
great nation; so that notwithstanding the ill feeling which ul- 
timately prevailed, Egypt had been compelled to act as a nurs- 
ing mother to Israel. By their residence in Egypt, the original 
character of the Israelites had been modified by intimacy with 
Egyptian habits and ideas, and by familiarity with Egyptian 
modes of life. They must have acquired a knowledge of agri- 
culture, and of the arts of settled and social life in which the 
Egyptians excelled, and so far they had undergone a useful 
training for their destined condition. And inasmuch as it was 
the Divine intention that they should exchange the comparative 
inertness of pastoral life, for the cares and labours of agricul- 
ture, even the bitter bondage in Egypt may, in its real effect, 
have been a serviceable schooling of the nation into those hab- 
its of regular industry which their destined condition would re- 
quire. On the other hand, the iron of their bondage had enter- 
ed into their soul ; their religion had become tainted with the 
superstitions of E^ypt ; and their mind and character had ac- 
quired the hue which continued bondage never fails to impart. 
They were a timid, selfish, vain, idle, suspicious, unconfiding, 
mean, and ungenerous people. It soon appeared that the gene- 
ration which quitted Egypt was utterly unfit to enter Canaan ; 
and several generations passed before the taint of the Egyptian 
bondage was wholly purged from the blood of Israel. 


CHAPTER II. B. C. 1491. 


B. C. B. C. 

Passage of the Red Sea, . . 1491 Defeat of the Amalekites, . . 1491 
The first fall of Manna, . . 1491 Arrival in Sinai, 1491 

1. With a view to the condition and character of the peo- 
ple, and their unfitness for immediate action, it was not the Di- 
vine intention that the emancipated Israelites should go direct- 
ly and by the nearest way to the land of Canaan, entering it on 
the south-west, where the Philistines and other warlike tribes 
were stationed ; but to go round by the desert and approach on 
the south-east, from which quarter they might get into the very 
heart of the country before any serious opposition could be en- 
countered. But first they were to be led into the Peninsula of 
Sinai, among the mountains where Moses had seen the burning 
bush, that they might there be properly organized, and .receive 
the laws and institutions necessary to keep. them as a peculiar 
people among the nations. In their march the Israelites could 
not be mistaken in their course ; for a miraculous pillar, of cloud 
by day and of fire by night, wqnt always before them to direct 
their way. They rested whenever it stood still, and whenever 
it moved they followed. j? 


B. c. 1491.] 


PASSAGE OF THE RED SEA. 


29 


2. From Egypt the hosts of Israel marched towards the west- 
ern arm* of the Red Sea, round the head of which lay the usu- 
al road to the Peninsula of Sinai. On arriving at the sea, they 
encamped on its hither shore in such a manner that they had 
the sea before them and the mountains behind, and could only 
retreat by returning to Egypt by the way they came, or by go- 
ing round by the head of the gulf into the peninsula. 

3. In the three days which had passed since the Israelites 
left Egypt, the alarm of the Egyptian king subsided into resent- 
ment for the calamities which Egypt had suffered for their sake ; 
the loss of the services of so large a body of well-trained serfs, 
was also a matter of no small moment : and, therefore, when 
he received information that they had encamped in so disad- 
vantageous a position as that which has been described, he de- 
termined to follow them with his troops, and by cutting off their 
retreat round the head of the gulf, either drive them back into 
Egypt by the way they came, or destroy them where they lay. 
Dreadful was the consternation of the Hebrews when the ap- 
pearance of Pharaoh and his host made known to them their 
danger. Only a miracle could save them ; and that miracle 
was wrought. At the command of God, Moses uplifted his rod 
over the waters, when immediately a strong wind arose, by 
which a broad track was opened through the sea for the pas- 
sage of the chosen race, dryshod, to the other side, where by 
the break of morning, they all arrived in safety. With mar- 
vellous temerity, Pharaoh, with his chariots and horsemen, en- 
tered in pursuit ; when Moses, from the further shore, again 
stretched forth his rod, and the waters suddenly returned and 
overwhelmed them all. This great event, which was celebra- 
ted by the daughters of Israel in triumphant hymns, had a 
most salutary effect upon the neighbouring nations, impressing 
them with a great dread of the mighty God by whom the Isra- 
elites were protected. 

4. The now secure multitude tarried a short time at this place, 
and then marched southward for three days through the wilder- 
ness of Shur, where they began to be in want of water. This 
caused them to murmur greatly, especially when, on coming 
to Marah, they found water which was too bitter to be of any 
use. To pacify them Moses was instructed to cast a branch of 
a certain tree into it, and it then became sweet and drinkable. 
Their next resting place was at Elim, where twelve wells, sha- 
ded by seventy palm-trees, gave abundant of water to the peo- 
ple and their flock. 

5. Journeying from Elim, the people having exhausted the 
provisions they had brought from Egypt, began to suffer hun- 
ger. On this they gave way to their usual unmanly wailings, 
and to the most ungenerous reflections upon their great leader. 


Q* 


•Now the Gulf of Suez. 


30 


THE FIRST FALL OF MANNA. [b. C. 1491. 

They forgot the miracles of God, and remembered only the 
“ flesh-pots” of Egypt. God rebuked them ; but he promised 
that they should have meat in the evening, and in the morning 
bread to the full. This he made good by causing a vast flight 
of quails to rest that evening upon the camp : and of these 
large quantities were taken and dressed for food. And in the 
morning, when the dew was gone, the ground was found to be 
covered, as by hoar-frost, with small, round, white particles, 
like coriander seed for size and shape, and the taste of which 
was like fine bread sweetened with honey. The wondering in- 
quiry Man-hu ? ( what is this?) which the Israilites addressed to 
one another on beholding it, caused this food to be called Man- 
na. This proved to be the commencement of a supply of “ bread 
from heaven,” which was furnished daily, except on the Sab- 
baths, for forty years. Still advancing southward towards the 
upper region of Sinai, the Israelites passed overall arid tract of 
country and encamped at Rephidim. As no water was found at 
this place, the people again broke forth into their usual mur- 
murs; and on this accasion, so wild and fierce did their pas- 
sions rise under the agonies of thirst, that Moses and Aaron 
were in danger of being stoned for having brought them to that 
wilderness, unless some immediate relief were given. Moses 
was instructed by God to take some of the elders as witnesses, 
and strike with his rod a rock in Horeb. He did so ; and from 
that rock an abundant stream immediately broke forth and 
flowed to the Hebrew camp. Moses signalized this transaction 
by calling the place Massa ( temptation ), and Meribah (strife). 

6. By this time the movements of the Israelites attracted the 
attention of the inhabitants of Sinai ; and that warlike tribe, the 
Amalekites, whose quarters the Hebrew host now approached, 
determined to assault them, stimulated, perhaps, by the hope 
of acquiring the Egyptian wealth with which they were laden. 
On this Moses directed a valiant young man named Joshua, 
who always attended him, to draw out a body of choice troops, 
and give the Amalekites battle on the morrow. The next 
morning, when Joshua marched forth against the Amalekites, 
Moses, accompanied by his brother Aaron, and by Hur, ascen- 
ded to the top of a mountain and prayed to God in view of the 
warriors and the people. It was soon discovered that while the 
hands of Moses were uplifted in prayer, Israel prevailed over 
Amalek ; but that when his hands hung down in weariness, 
Amalek was the stronger; and therefore, Aaron and Hur plac- 
ed themselves beside the prophet and sustained his interceding 
hands until the evening, by which time the Amalekites were 
put to utter route. This signal success in their first military 
enterprise greatly encouraged the Israelites; and by Divine au- 
thority and command, the race of Amalek was, for this first and 
most unprovoked act of hostility against the chosen people, de- 
voted to utter extermination. 

7. After this the Hebrews advanced to Mount Sinai, called 


ARRIVAL AT SINAI. 


31 


B. c. 1491 ] 

also Mount Horeb, where the Lord had appeared to Moses in 
the burning bush. While the host encamped in the valleys 
below, Moses was frequently called up by the Lord into the 
mountain ; and sometimes, by command, he took up Aaron, 
Nadab, Abihu, Joshua, and other principal persons, a part of 
the way with him ; and they were permitted to behold that re- 
splendence which is named “ the glory of God.” Never was 
the intercourse between God and a man made so obvious to the 
senses as it was at this time, with regard to Moses, upon this 
mountain ; and the reason evidently was, that a weak-minded 
and suspicious people might be the more strongly convinced of 
his divine mission, and the more readily obey him as their lea- 
der. An infant nation, circumstanced like the Israelites in lea- 
ving Egypt, required, more than advanced people can well ap- 
prehend, that kind of evidence which may be seen and handled ; 
and this consideration will be found to explain many circum- 
stances in the history of the measures which God at this time 
took with the Israelites. 

8. The first important act was to obtain from the assembled 
nation a distinct acknowledgment of the supreme authority of 
Jehovah, and the promise of implicit obedience. This was be- 
comingly and cheerfully given by the people ; and by that act 
they became a nation with the Lord himself for their King, in a 
sense in which he never was the king of any other people. 
This it is important to remember, as the clearness of the his- 
tory very much depends upon the recollection of the fact, that 
the Lord was not only the God of the Israelites, and of the 
whole world ; and not only the King of the Israelites, in the 
same sense in which he was and is King and Governor of the 
universe ; but that he was, in a peculiar sense, and for a peculiar 
purpose, their real political and national King and Head, and as 
such entitled to direct the affairs of the state, and to require po- 
litical and civil obedience from his people. His sovereign pow- 
er being recognised, the Lord appointed the third day after as 
that in which he would appear with glory upon the mountain, 
to deliver the laws to which he required obedience. Meanwhile 
the people were to purify themselves against that day ; and 
fences were placed around the mountain, that none might tres- 
pass too near the sacred presence. 

9. On that day, being the fiftieth after the departure from 
Egypt, the Lord descended upon the top of Mount Sinai, which 
then trembled greatly, while the lightning hashed, and the thun- 
ders rolled, and the summit was enveloped in a vast body of 
flame, from which a great smoke arose. The awe-struck mul- 
titude remained at the foot of the mountain; but Moses and 
Aaron ascended, although only the former dared to enter the 
cloud which veiled the presence of God. No form was seen 
by the people or by Moses ; but a voice was heard giving utter- 
ance to the words of the Decalogue. So awful was that voice, 
and so appalling were the circumstances, that the people were 


32 


THE GOLDEN CALF. 


[B. C. 1491. 

struck with fear, and entreated that God would henceforth make 
known his will through Moses, and that they might thenceforth 
hear the voice and the “ mighty thunderings” no more. Ac- 
cordingly, in successive visits to the mountain, Moses received 
the great body of civil, ceremonial, and political laws and in- 
stitutions, which, on his return, he wrote down as we now find 
them in the Pentateuch, and read to the people. The greater 
number of these institutions were delivered to him on one occa- 
sion when he was absent not less than forty days on the moun- 
tain, at the end of which he received, written upon tables of 
stone, the ten fundamental laws of the Decalogue, which had 
before been orally delivered. 


CHAPTER III. B. C. 1491 to 1490. 


B. C. B. C. 

The Law delivered, . . . 1491 Aaron and his sons appointed 
Tabernacle completed, . . 1490 Priests, 1490 

1. During his absence, Moses left the charge of the people to 
Aaron and Hur. After long waiting, they gave him up for lost, 
and ceased to expect his return. The salutary restraint of his 
presence being thus withdrawn, the infatuated Israelites clam- 
oured to Aaron for a sensible image or similitude of the God 
they worshipped, such as other nations had, that it might go 
before them and be always among them. This was contrary to 
the very first law which the people had lately heard delivered 
from amidst the thunders of Sinai. From the prevalent danger 
of idolatry, they had been strictly enjoined not only not to wor- 
ship other gods, but not to make any figure or similitude or 
symbol of the true God for the purpose of worship. But, heed- 
less of this, the people persisted in their demand, and Aaron 
weakly yielded; and of the ornaments which they contributed, 
he caused to be made a golden calf. — probably because, under 
tne form of a calf or young bull, the Egyptians worshipped 
their most popular god, Osiris. No sooner was the golden calf 
completed than Aaron proclaimed a feast to the Lord, which 
the people celebrated with dances and heathenish sports, before 
the degrading symbol of his presence which they had set up. 

2. Meanwhile, Moses was dismissed from his high confer- 
ence with God on the clouded mountain top; and in his descent, 
with the tables of the law in his hands, was joined by the faith- 
ful Joshua, who had remained below. As they proceeded, they 
arrived at a point which commanded a view of the camp and 
the proceedings there. No sooner did the Prophet behold the 
people abandoning themselves to heathenish merriment before 
their idol, than he was seized with vehement indignation, and 


TABERNACLE COMPLETED. 


33 


b. c. 1491.] 

cast from him the tables of the law with such force that they 
were broken in pieces. He hastened forward, and his presence 
struck the crowd with dismay. He broke down and destroyed 
their image ; and after reproving Aaron, called around him the 
men of his own tribe, the Levites, and ordered them to execute 
judgment on the revolters. Three thousand men fell in the 
slaughter which they made. After this, Moses was command- 
ed to prepare two new tablets of stone, which he took up to the 
Mount, where they received the words which had been graven 
on the broken tables. When he came down from the Mount on 
this occasion, it was found that his countenance had become so 
radiant that the people were not able to look steadfastly at his 
face ; and hence he covered his head with a veil. 

3. Order being restored, Moses proceeded to execute the com- 
mands which he had received during his long stay in the Mount ; 
and the recent exhibition which the people had made of their 
tendency to sensible symbols and material idols, only the more 
evinced the necessity for the measures which were taken. A 
purely spiritual worship of an invisible God, and a true alle- 
giance to an invisible King, were beyond the reach of their un- 
derstanding and their condition. Therefore, in so far as his in- 
effable greatness could stoop to the littleness of man, he deter- 
mined to make his presence among them felt by sensible mani- 
festations, by ministers, officers, and ceremonies. He was their 
King ; and he determined as such to dwell among them, and to 
connect with the requisitions of his peculiar and political char- 
acter, such religious observances as would constantly remind 
them that he who stooped to be their King, was also their God, 
and the Lord of the universe. 

4. In the first place, they were to provide for him a palace- 
temple, containing all things meet for the state of a Divine king ; 
a throne, a table, an incense altar, a superb candelabrum, — all 
formed of, or overlaid with, the finest gold. The throne was 
the ark, the table that of shewbread. The dwelling itself, the 
Tabernacle, was necessarily so made as to be taken to pieces, 
and carried from place to place as occasion required. When 
standing it was an oblong structure fifty-five feet in length, by 
eighteen in breadth and in height, formed of acacia wood over- 
laid with plates of gold, and the whole overhung with rich palls 
and curtains. In the enclosure in front was erected a large but 
portable brazen altar, on which were to be offered daily and oc- 
casional sacrifices ; and here also was an immense basin or layer 
of the same metal, in which the ministers of the Divine king 
were to perform their ablutions. When the sacred edifice was 
completed and set up, the pillar of cloud, which has already 
been mentioned, moved from its previous station, and rested 
upon it ; and a wondrous resplendence, called the Shechinah, 
or “ glory of God,” filled the place, and ultimately concentra- 
ted over the ark, where it became the appropriate and abiding 
symbol of the Divine presence. 


34 AARON AND HIS SONS APPOINTED PRIESTS, [b. C. 149 1. 

5. For the state of the Great King, ministers and officers 
were necessary. According to patriarchal usage, there was no 
distinct order of priesthood, such sacerdotal offices as their sim- 
ple worship required being discharged by the first-born. In 
conformity with this, the first-born had, as we have seen, been 
set apart to the service of God on the departure from Egypt, 
with a farther reference to a commemoration thereby of their 
preservation, when all the first-born of the Egyptians were des- 
troyed. But now that the Israelites had evinced their need of 
a more ostensible system of worship, it was deemed proper, for 
the sake of better organization, that a whole tribe, instead of 
the first born of all tribes, should be set apart for this service. 
The tribe of Levi, to which Moses and Aaron belonged, was 
therefore chosen for the general service of the theocratical gov- 
ernment ; and the family of Aaron was selected for the higher 
and more special services of the priesthood, Aaron himself be- 
ing the high-priest. All these had peculiar dresses suitable to 
their service, which they were to use when they officiated : at 
other times they were dressed like the rest of the community. 
The dress of the high-priest was very splendid, especially by 
reason of a breastplate of gold, in which were set twelve pre- 
cious stones, on each of which was graven the name of a tribe 
in Israel. This was called the Urim and Thummim. 

6. To support the court and ministers of the Great King, 
which involved also a provision for public worship, it was di- 
rected that the Levitical tribe should have one-tenth (lithe) and 
the first fruits of the produce of the fields and of the flocks. 
The tithe was what kings were in the habit of exacting for the 
support of the government, and as a sort of quit-rent for the 
soil, of which they were regarded the sovereign proprietors ; 
and more than once does the Lord assert this right, as king, to 
the soil of Palestine. Besides, the tribe of Levi was to have 
no territorial inheritance; and as their exclusion left more for 
the other tribes, they had a claim of right to compensation from 
these tribes ; for the few towns which were given to them for 
residence were no adequate compensation for their foregoing an 
equal heritage in the soil of the Promised Land. 

7. The people worked with ardour, and contributed with lib- 
erality and zeal, in giving effect to all those designs and opera- 
tions ; for a gorgeous regality and theocracy, with a splendid 
court and imposing ritual, were exactly suited to their condition 
of mind, and gave them a feeling of importance and concentra- 
tion, which they could not well have realized by any other 
means. Eight days after the solemn consecration of Aaron 
and his sons to the priesthood, their ministrations commenced 
by the first burnt-offering upon the altar. On that occasion the 
Lord was pleased to signify his complacency by the appearance 
of that “ glory” or resplendence, of which we have so often 
spoken, and from which a fire now darted forth which consum- 
ed the bumt-offering that lay upon the altar. At this sign of 


FORM OF THE ENCAMPMENT. 


35 


b. c. 1491.] 


favour and acceptance, the people shouted and fell upon their 
faces in adoration. (Lev. ix.) The fire thus kindled was com- 
manded to be continually kept up (Lev. vi. 12, 13); nor was it 
lost until the Babylonish captivity. No fire but this was lawful 
in any ministerial service, as two of the sons of Aaron, called 
Nadab and Abihu, found to their cost ; for when, through care- 
lessness or wilful daring, they put common fire in their censers, 
and offered incense therewith, they were struck dead : a suffo- 
cating flame shot through and destroyed them, without injuring 
their bodies or their garments. 

8. During the subsequent stay at Sinai, great pains were 
taken to organize the vast body which now composed the He- 
brew nation. A census was taken, which exhibited nearly the 
same result as the rough estimate given on quitting Egypt, be- 
ing raiher more than 600,000 men fit to bear arms, which, as 
we have shown, is nearly one-fourth of the entire population 
(Num. i.). A particular account of the order by which the 
marchings and encampments of this vast host was regulated 
is given in Num. ii. This regulated movement and orderly dis- 
position must have been very imposing, whilst nothing could 
be more effective for preventing confusion. The tribes usually 
encamped so as to form a hollow square, in the centre of which 
w*as the tabernacle, within a smaller square formed by the tents 
of the sacerdotal tribe according to the following order. 


EAST. FIRST DIVISION CAMP OF JUDAH : 186 , 400 . 


ISSACHAR 

54 , 400 . 


JUDAH, 

74 , 600 . 

AND ZEBULUN, 

57 , 400 . 


MOSES, AARON, 
AND THE PRIESTS. 



joS 

03 


6 |S 

e §S 


’ 00**98 ‘ 00S*&8 

'jiiwvmaa: cnrv' h3ssvmvw 

• 009 * 0 * 

‘KIYRHaa 


* 001*801 iKivHHaa ao jkvd— noisiaiu araiHi — -issm 


36 


THE ISRAELITES LEAVE SINAI. [b. c. 1490 . 

9. For the idea of another excellent arrangement, Moses 
was indebted to Jethro, his father-in-law, who came from his 
home, which was at no great distance, to congratulate the De- 
liverer of Israel, and to bring to him his wife and two sons. 
During his stay this old man observed with concern the great 
labour which Moses had taken upon himself, in hearing the 
complaints and determining the differences of so great a people ; 
and fearing that he would soon be utterly worn out by such 
incessant labour, he counselled him to commit the hearing of 
secondary causes to subordinate officers, some over thousands, 
some over hundreds, some over fifties, and some over tens,— 
reserving for his own hearing only the weightier causes, 
and appeals from the inferior tribunals. This counsel being 
approved, was put into immediate execution, and the order 
thus established was long after preserved among the Israelites. 

10. In the sequestered wilderness of Sinai, nearly a year was 
spent by the Hebrew people, when, the constitution of their 
civil and ecclesiastical polity being completed, the removal of 
the cloudy pillar, from off the tabernacle, gave the signal to de- 
part, in the twentieth day of the second month of the second 
year after the departure from Egypt. 


CHAPTER IV. B. C. 1490 to 1489. 


B. C. 

The Israelites leave Sinai, . 1490 

Supply of Quails, .... 1490 
Sedition of Miriam and Aaron, 1490 
Arrival at Kadesh Barnea, . 1490 
Spies sent into Canaan, . . 1490 


B. C. 

Their ill report of the land dis- 


courages the people, . . 1490 
Sentence to wander 40 years in 

the Desert, 1490 

Leave Kadesh Barnea, . . . 1489 


1. In the journey from Sinai to the frontiers of Canaan, sever- 
al occurrences evinced the still intractable and unmanly charac- 
ter of the people, and their unfitness to receive the inheritance 
promised to their fathers. The renewed fatigues and priva- 
tions of travel through the Desert soon raised their murmurs, 
which at the third stage, became so outrageous, that their Di- 
vine King manifested his displeasure by causing a fire to rage in 
the outskirts of the camp, which was only stayed at the inter- 
cession of Moses, when the people recognized the hand of God, 
Hence the place was called Teberah [ the burning]. 

2. The next offence commenced among the mixed multitude 
which accompanied the Hebrew host, but involved many of the 
Israelites. Whatever fortitude they had soon gave way before 


37 


B. C. 1490.] SEDITION OF MIRIAM AND AARON. 

the privations of the Desert. There was, indeed, plenty of 
manna ; but they had grown dainty, and “ their souls loathed 
that light food.” They lamented that they had ever left E- 
gypt, and remembered, with tender regret, the cooling melons, 
the leeks, the onions, the garlick, and the other fruits and ve- 
getables which they had enjoyed in abundance ; as well as the 
fish and the meat, which in that rich land they had “ eaten to 
the full.” All this greatly oppressed the spirit of Moses, and 
his address to God on that occasion marks his deep desponden- 
cy. To comfort him, and to enable him the better to sustain his 
heavy charge, he was directed to choose seventy competent men 
from the elders of Israel, who should act as a council, and as- 
sist him in the government of the people. These being nomi- 
nated by Moses, were to be brought to the door of the taberna- 
cle, where the Divine King gave undoubted signs of their ac- 
ceptance. 

3. As to the murmuring people, it was promised, — not in kind- 
ness, — that on the morrow, and for a month after, they should 
have ‘‘meat to the full.” Accordingly, the miracle of the 
quails was repeated; and so abundant was the supply of these 
birds that not only were the people able to glut themselves for 
the time, but to preserve a great quantity for future use. In 
the midst of their over-feeding on this meat, their incensed God 
caused a terrible plague to break out among them, whereby 
great numbers were destroyed. Excessive indulgence in a kind 
of food to which people have not been lately accustomed, pro- 
duces a mortal fever, well known to travellers ; and this was 
probably the instrument employed in punishing the gluttonous 
people, who found a grave at Kibroth Hattaavah (the graves of 
hungering ). 

4. At Hazeroth the spirit of opposition to Moses broke out in 
his own family in consequence of his having married the foreign 
woman Zipporah, who had lately been brought among them. 
Miriam, the sister of Moses, who had previously held the chief 
place among the women in Israel, and who was now probably 
jealous of the respect paid to the wife of Moses, was the lead- 
er in this affair, and was soon joined by Aaron, who probably 
feared the influence which the newly arrived family were likely 
to acquire in prejudice to his own sons, on whom the priesthood 
had been conferred. At all events, their feeling was bad, and 
as the expression of it tended to undermine the authority of Mo- 
ses, the Lord testified his displeasure by smiting Miriam with 
leprosy, and as a leper she was excluded from the camp. But 
in seven days she was restored at the intercession of Moses, af- 
ter Aaron had humbled himself, and acknowledged their joint 
offence. 

5. Nothing remarkable occurred in the march through the 
wilderness of Paran till they arrived at Kadesh Barnea, on the 
southern border of the Promised Land, when Moses encouraged 
them to proceed boldly, and take possession of their heritage, 

D 


38 


SPIES SENT INTO CANAAN. 


[b. c. 1490 . 

But they betrayed some diffidence, and resolved first to send 
twelve spies, one from each tribe, to traverse the country, and 
to bring them an account of the land and its inhabitants. Af- 
ter an absence of forty days, the spies came back with a large 
cluster of grapes, and other fruits of the country, — many of 
which were new to men from Egypt. Of the country itself, and 
of its productions, they gave a very glowing account ; but the 
inhabitants they described as warlike, and, in some places, gi- 
gantic, dwelling in high-walled and seemingly impregnable 
cities ; and they declared it as their opinion, that however de- 
sirable the country, the Israelites were by no means equal to 
the conquest of it from the present inhabitants. This state- 
ment filled the timorous multitude with dismay ; and they 
threatened to stone two of the spies, Joshua and Caleb, who 
proclaimed their conviction that, with the Divine aid, which was 
promised to them, they were fully equal to the enterprize. 
Breaking out into open mutiny, they even talked of appointing 
a leader to conduct them back to their bondage in Egypt. 

6. For this last melancholy display of their utter unfitness for 
the promised inheritance, of their insensibility to the great 
things which had been done for them, and of their gross incapa- 
city of comprehending his great design, the Lord’s anger was 
greatly kindled against them. The mysterious “glory” sud- 
denly appeared in the cloud which rested upon the tabernacle ; 
and that manifestation of the present God struck dumb every 
clamorous tongue, and filled all hearts with fear. The Divine 
voice now threatened instant extinction to the revolters, and 
promised to make of Moses and his family a nation greater and 
mightier than they. This offer had been made on a former oc- 
casion, and was then, as now, reverently declined by the disin- 
terested prophet ; and he and his brother lay prostrate before 
the cloud, with their faces to the ground, interceding for the peo- 
ple. Their prayer had power with God, and the doom of in- 
stant death and disinheritance was averted. But it was pro- 
nounced that not one of the tainted generation — composed of 
those who were of full age on leaving Egypt — should enter the 
Promised Land ; but that they should wander for forty years* 
to and fro in the wilderness, until they were all dead, and until 
their children had grown up into a generation fitter than they 
to receive the heritage of Abraham. From this doom only the 
two faithful spies, Joshua and Caleb, were exempted : the ten 
others were smitten with that instant death which their con- 
duct deserved. [Numb, xiv.] 

7. This awful denunciation had the remarkable, but not un- 
natural, effect of driving the Israelites from their childish tim- 
idity to the very opposite extreme of unauthorized and pre- 
sumptuous rashness. The Canaanites and Amalekites had al- 

* Forty years from the departure from Egypt, nearly 38 years from the 
present time. 


REBELLION OF KORAH. 


39 


B. c. 1471.] 

ready taken alarm, and possessed themselves of the passes in the 
mountains which lay before the Hebrew host. Notwithstand- 
ing this advantage on the side of the enemy, and in spite of the 
earnest remonstrances of Moses, a large body of the Israelites 
determined to march forward and: take possession of the coun- 
try. They were driven back with great slaughter ; and imme- 
diately after, in obedience to the Divine mandate, the camp at 
Kadesh Barnea was broken up, and the people conducted back 
into the desert towards the Red Sea. 

8. Here, in the deserts between Palestine and Sinai, they 
wandered their appointed time, the generation which received 
the law in Horeb becoming gradually extinct. During all this 
time they continued to lead the same pastoral or Bedouin life as 
they had done before, living on manna and the produce of their 
flocks and herds ; and removing from one station to another as 
directed by the pillar cloud which rested upon the tabernacle. 


CHAPTER V. B. C. 14S9 to 1452. 


PATRIARCHS. 

B. C. 

Rebellion of Korah,1471 
Return to Kadesh- 
Barnea, . 1453 

Death of Aaron, 1453 
The Fiery Serpents, 1452 


EGYPT. 

B. c. 

Amunoph II., 1456 


EVENTS AND PERSON8. 

B. C. 

Danaus arrives (in 
a ship) fromE- 
gypt, and posses- 
ses himself of 
Argos, . 1485 

The Olymyic games 
first celebrated at 
Elis, . . 1453 


1. During all this period, only one event of much importance 
is recorded. This was a very serious revolt against the theo- 
cratical government, by persons of high rank and consequence 
in some of the tribes. The rebels were heads of families and 
clans, who would have possessed high civil powers, and would 
have exercised priestly functions under the patriarchal govern- 
ment : and their attempt must be taken as a struggle of the old 
institutions against the new. In some shape or other, such a 
conflict almost always takes place between new forms of gov- 
ernment and the ancient institutions which are altered or super- 
seded. A settled and central government absorbs the power 
which, in a rude state of society, is exercised by individuals 
over small sections of the general body ; and these are com- 
monly too fond of power to relinquish it without a struggle. 
Among the Hebrews, the supreme authority under which tl * 


40 


REBELLION OF KORAH. 


[B. C. 1471 

new institutions had been framed, kept the great body of the 
natural heads of tribes and families quiet, whatever may have 
been their secret discontent; but there were some audacious 
spirits whom even this consideratiou could not restrain. 

2. Korah, although himself a Levite, appears to have been 
the chief instigator of this revolt. His birth and station would 
have entitled him to a leading place in the tribe ; and it is more 
than probable that another family being appointed to the priest- 
hood, was the chief cause of his discontent. This, however, 
was not a ground on which he could expect much support from 
the chiefs of other tribes ; and it was therefore pretended, that 
the liberties of the people had been infringed by Moses and 
Aaron ; and that the heads of families had been unjustly de- 

f >rived of the sacerdotal and other powers, which naturally be- 
onged to them. The manner in which the high-priesthood had 
been made a high political office in a theocracy, exposed the 
priesthood to the ambition which it might have escaped had its 
duties been only sacerdotal. 

3. Besides Korah, two chiefs of the tribe of Reuben, Dathan 
and Abiram, are named as the principal malcontents ; and it 
will be remembered, that this tribe, descended from the first- 
born of Jacob, had, as regards the civil and sacerdotal rights of 
primogeniture, suffered more than any other by the existing in- 
stitutions, — which gave the civil pre-eminence to Judah, and 
the sacerdotal to Levi. Two hundred and fifty other chiefs, 
probably from the different tribes, joined in this conspiracy, the 
very grave character of which may be estimated from the de- 
scription of these persons as “ princes of the assembly, famous 
in the congregation, men of renown.” (Num. xvi. 2.) 

4. The people appear to have been well disposed to listen to 
those who told them that they had cause to be discontented ; 
that their liberties had been taken from them ; and that the 
yoke of a central government was too heavy to be borne. The 
leaders, therefore, being supported by a large body of the “ con- 
gregation,” at length openly charged Moses and Aaron with the 
usurpation of civil and pontifical power, which they were re- 
quired to lay down, It was admitted that the appointments of 
the Divine King were absolute ; but it was denied that it was, 
or could be, his intention that such powers should be vested in 
their hands. This they could only dispute by indirectly doubt- 
ing the testimony of Moses, who brought this institution with 
him on his return from the Mount ; and it was clear that, if his 
legislative agency in this matter could be set aside, an opening 
was made for overturning the whole system which rested on 
the same foundation. This was, no doubt, secretly understood 
on all sides : hence Moses at once saw that a special manifes- 
tation that the Aaronic priesthood was a divine appointment, 
had become necessary, not only to establish that institution, but 
for the confirmation of the whole system, of which that was an 
integral part : and, in the confidence that God would vindicate 


REBELLION OF KORAH. 


41 


b. c. 1471.J 

his own appointments, Moses was content to refer the matter 
to him. After some strong words of reproof, he therefore in- 
vited the leading conspirators to exercise on the morrow, by of- 
fering incense, the sacerdotal functions to which they laid claim, 
and then the Lord would doubtless make known his own deci- 
sion. Awful was that decision ! As they stood with their cen- 
sers to offer incense, they were suddenly consumed by fire from 
His presence: and the Reubenites, Dathan and Abiram, who 
had refused to attend, did not escape ; for the earth opened and 
engulphed them where they stood, with their tents and all that 
belonged to them. 

5. The discontent which these unhappy men had encouraged 
among the people, was too widely spread, and too deeply root- 
ed, for even this awful judgment to subdue. The turbulent 
mob were, indeed, struck with present horror and alarm at the 
destruction of their leaders ; but the next day they rallied, and 
assembled in great numbers, clamouring against Moses and 
Aaron, as if they were the authors of that judgment which the 
wrath of God had inflicted. Now again was the Divine wrath 
kindled, and a consuming plague went forth among the people. 
They fell, like com before the reaper, until Aaron, at the desire 
of Moses, took a censer, with burning incense, and rushing forth 
among the people, stood between the living and the dead, when 
the plague was stayed. On this occasion fourteen hundred peo- 
ple perished, (Num. xvi.) 

6. The destruction of those who unwarrantably pretended to 
sacerdotal functions, and the honour put upon Aaron by the 
plague being stayed at his intercession in his priestly character, 
were calculated to settle all real doubt regarding his appoint- 
ment. But to place this matter beyond controversy, the Divine 
King was pleased to grant a special and abiding miracle. Moses 
was directed to take a rod from each of the tribes, and to en- 
grave upon each rod the name of the tribe to which it belonged, 
but upon the rod of Levi to write Aaron’s name. All these rods 
were laid up in the tabernacle, before the ark, God having sig- 
nified that he would cause to blossom the dry rod of the man 
chosen and appointed by him. The next day the rods were 
brought forth and delivered to those to whom they belonged, 
when it was found that the rod of Aaron had budded, blossom- 
ed, and borne ripe almonds. The rod which became the wit- 
ness that Aaron had been divinely appointed to the priesthood, 
was directed to be laid up among the monuments of the taber- 
nacle. 

7. At length the forty years, during which the Israelites had 
been doomed to wander in the wilderness, were nearly expired, 
and the generation which, by their disobedience, had forfeited 
their title to the Promised Land, had perished. The new gene- 
ration, although far from faultless, was, upon the whole, much 
superior to that which had passed away, and better fitted for the 
promised inheritance. As the time drew nigh, the host return- 


DEATH OF AARON. 


42 


b. c. 1706.] 

ed to the borders of Canaan, and we again find it encamped at 
Kadesh, whence it had formerly been sent back into the desert. 
Miriam, the sister of Moses and Aaron, died here ; and here 
the brothers themselves forfeited their claim to enter the Pro- 
mised Land. The want of water was experienced at Kadesh 
with so much severity, that the people became clamorous and 
reproachful. By this Moses and Aaron were so much disturb- 
ed, that, when instructed to smite a certain rock, from which 
water should then flow, they exhibited such impatience and 
distrust as, if left unpunished, might have had an injurious ef- 
fect on the minds of the people. They were therefore inter- 
dicted from entering Canaan ; but, at his earnest entreaty, Moses 
was promised a distant view of that “ goodly land” which the 
Lord had promised to his people. 

8. Considering the strength of the southern frontier of Ca- 
naan, and the warlike character of the inhabitants, it seemed 
much less desirable that the Israelites should invade the coun- 
try on that side, and fight their way northward, than that they 
should at once enter a central and comparatively undefended 
part of the land. This could only be achieved by passing over 
into the country east of the Dead Sea; and, after marching 
northward, to cross the Jordan into the heart of Palestine. 
From Kadesh, the nearest way to the east country was through 
a great valley in the mountains of Seir, which, however, could 
not be traversed with safety, if any resistance were made by its 
inhabitants, the Edomites. An embassy was therefore sent to 
the king of Edom, to remind him of the fraternity of the two 
nations, and request permission to pass through his country. 
This request, although couched in the most civil and respectful 
language, met with a direct and churlish refusal. It was there- 
fore determined to return to the head of the eastern arm of the 
Red Sea, from which it was easy to pass to the other side of 
the Seir mountains. On the way they had to pass by Mount 
Hor, one of the loftiest of these mountains, at the base of which 
they encamped. Upon that mountain Aaron died, and was bu- 
ried ; and his tomb is still seen afar off by tl/ose who travel in 
that solitary region. He was succeeded in the pontificate by 
his eldest son Eleazer. (Num. xx.) 

9. Before the Israelites quitted this place, they were unex- 
pectedly attacked by the Canaanitish king Arad, who took some 
of them prisoners. But for this they in due season took amsle 
vengeance, by the extermination of his tribe, and the desola- 
tion of the land in which it dwelt. 

10. The hosts of Israel on reaching Kadesh had fully expec- 
ted that they were immediately to enter the Promised Land, 
They were, therefore, much discouraged at having to take an- 
other troublesome journey through so unpleasant a wilderness 
as that which bordered the land of Edom; and, by the time 
they reached the vicinity of the Red Sea, they broke forth into 
loud complaints for bread and water, and expressed their dis- 


THE FIERY SERPENTS 


b. c. 1452.] 


43 


taste at the manner in which they had been fed for nearly forty 
years say mg, “Our soul loatheth this light food.” For thS 
impatience, and for the contempt of God’s merciful provision 
without which they must long ago have perished, the^erpents’ 
which infested, and do still infest that region, were sent a ! 

Sem died" 11 % nd whoever was bitten by 

em died. On this the people confessed their sin, and sought 



Mount Hor. 


the mtercession of Moses, who was instructed to make a ser- 
pent of brass, and elevate it upon a pole in the midst of the 
camp ; and those who looked upon it were instantly cured. 
The brazen serpent was preserved as a memorial of this mira- 
cle for about 900 years, when, because the people were dispos- 
ed to render it idolatrous honours, it was destroyed by king 
Hezekiah. 


u 


CHAPTER VI. 


B. C. 

The Israelites cross the Arnon, 1452 
Sihon and Og defeated, . . . 1452 
Balak and Balaam, .... 1452 


The Midianites smitten, 
The people numbered, . 
Moses dies, .... 


b, c. 
1452 
. 1452' 
. 1451 


1. The Israelites passed without molestation, along the eas- 
tern border of Mount Seir, and through the country of Moab, 
and encamped by the river Arnon. Of the country immediate- 
ly to the north of that river, the descendants of Lot had before 
this time been dispossessed, by a colony of the Amorites from 
the other side of the Jordan. As it was an early law of na- 
tions, of which we hare had a previous instance, that a body 
of armed men could not pass through a country without permis- 
sion from the sovereign, Moses sent ambassadors to Heshbon 
to ask that permission. This was not only refused by King Si- 
hon, but he went forth with an army to fight against the Isra- 
elites, and to drive them back. Hearing this, the Hebrews did 
not await his attack, but advanced to meet him half way ; and 
having routed him at Jahaz, they acquired possession of a very 
fine country, rich in pastures, and full of towns and cities. This 
acquisition brought them into the neighbourhood of Bashan, 

^ whose King, Og, was descended from the old gigantic race by 
* whom the country was originally inhabited. To give an idea 
of his bulk of stature, the sacred historian informs us that his 
bed was of iron, and that its length was thirteen feet and a 
half, and its wiatn six. This monarch prepared to resent the 
defeat and slaughter of his friend and neighbour ; and the Is- 
raelites were somewhat dismayed when he appeared against 
them ; but being encouraged by Moses with assurances of suc- 
cess, they fought bravely, and slew the monarch and dispersed 
his host. Thus the Israelites became possessed of the coun- 
tries of Gilead and Bashan, east of the Jordan, although their 
views had in the first instance been confined to the country 
west of that river. 

2. The Israelites now moved their encampment from the 
banks of the Arnon to the district of country near the nor- 
thern extremity of the Dead Sea, called the plains of Moab, 
as having once been in the territory of the Moabites. That na- 
tion was not at all pleased with these transactions. On enter- 
ing the land of Moab, the Israelites had been cautioned to re- 
spect their descent from Lot, and offer them no molestation ; and 
the Moabites, qp their part, although they regarded the new- 
comers with no good will, were afraid to oppose them. Now, 
however, that the Hebrews had acquired such important pos- 
sessions on that side of the river, a considerable portion of 
which had once belonged to the descendants of Lot, the wish to 


B. c, 1452.] 


BALAAK AND BALAAM. 


45 


wound or crush this new power became very strong, and was 
only kept inoperative by a salutary dread of the consequences. 
At length Balak the king ofMoab bethought him of a famous 
prophet who lived beyond the Euphrates, and vainly imagined, 
that if he could get him to come and lay a curse upon the Is- 
raelites, they might afterwards be attacked and destroyed with 
safety. He therefore sent an honourable embassy, with the 
promise of high distinctions and costly gifts, to tempt Balaam 
from his distant home. The covetous prophet was willing 
enough to earn the wages of iniquity: but being forbidden in 
a vision to go, he sent back the messengers with that intimation. 
Balak, however, believing that the objection was only urged 
with the view of extorting a higher bribe, again sent a more 
dignified embassy, with the offer of still greater rewards. — 
Knowing already the divine will, Balaam ought at once to have 
rejected these offers, and sent the messengers home ; but over- 
come by his avarice, he invited them to stay, and promised to 
make another effort to get leave to go with them. Displeased 
at this conduct, G-od left him to take his own course, and in the 
morning he joyfully mounted his ass to accompany the messen- 
gers of Balak. 

3. On the way, however, he met with an unexpected check. 
In a narrow road, he was stopped by an angel with a drawn 
sword. The angel was at first visible to the ass, but not to the 
rider ; and the obstinate refusal of the animal to proceed, so 
provoked Balaam, that he beat him most severely. On this the 
ass was gifted for the moment with a human voice, in which he 
remonstrated against this treatment, and intimated that there 
was a cause for his obstinacy. This cause became instantly 
visible to the confounded prophet, who humbled himself before 
the angel, and offered to return home ; but he was allowed to 
proceed, with the strict caution that on his arrival he should 
speak and act only as directed. [Num. xxii.] He was receiv- 
ed with great honour by the king of Moab, who, intent upon 
his design, lost no time in taking Balaam, first, to the high pla- 
ces of Baal, then to the top of Pisgah, and the third time to the 
top of Mount Peor ; from which, severally, he could view, first 
the whole, and then different parts of the Hebrew camp. At 
all these places altars were set up by Balaam’s direction, and 
sacrifices offered. On each occasion the king wished the pro- 
phet to lay his curse upon the people before him ; and Baalam 
was more than willing to gratify him ; but he was constrained 
not only to abstain from cursing the Israelites, but to bless them 
altogether, and to utter the regretful but vain wish that his 
own portion were with them in life and death. The king was 
displeased that he had brought a blessing upon those he intend- 
ed to curse; and to pacify him, as well as to evince that he had 
acted contrary to his own will, Balaam proceeded to point out 
the way to inflict a real injury upon the Israelites. He taught 
the king that none could injure that people while they remain- 


46 


THE MIDIANITE SMITTEN. 


[b. c. 1452 


ed faithful to their God, and had him for their defender ; and 
that, therefore, the true way to weaken them was to endeavour 
to seduce them from their allegiance to Him, — in which seduc- 
tion he intimated that the women of Moab and of Midian might 
be employed. 

4. This atrocious counsel was eagerly followed by the 
princes of Moab and Midian. The latter nation were neigh- 
bours of the former, and took an active part with them in their 
underhand plot against the Israelites. A seemingly friendly in- 
tercourse was encouraged; and the women of Moab and Midi- 
an, the latter especially, succeeded in drawing very many of 
the Israelites into the worship of their own idols. But this 
could not last. Idolatry was now a capital crime by the law, 
having been made an act of treason against the Divine head of 
the theocratical government. Moses, therefore, directed the 
Judges to enforce the law, in consequence of which the chief of 
those who had followed Baal-Peor, the great idol of these parts, 
were “ hanged up before the Lord.” A mortal plague was al- 
so sent forth among the people to punish them for their idolatry 
and lust. — Twenty- four thousand were destroyed by this pesti- 
lence, before its ravages were stayed through the Divine com- 
placency at the zealous act of Phinehas, the son of the high- 
priest, in slaying with his own hand Zimri, a prince of Simeon, 
and one of the fair idolatresses of Midian, whom he brought to 
his tent at the very time that the people stood lamenting their 
sins and its punishment (Num. xxv). 

5. Moses was also commissioned to punish the Midianites 
»# by warring against them. A thousand men from each tribe 

were entrusted with this service, which they discharged with 
exemplary severity ; for, being conquerors in battle, they made 
tremendous havoc among the Midianites, and took a large num- 
ber of female captives, with an immense spoil in cattle and rich 
goods and ornaments. The Moabites were less severely pun- 
v ished ; but for their conduct on this and other occasions, it was 
decreed that, for ten generations to come, they, notwithstanding 
their near relationship, should be counted as strangers to Israel. 

6. The tribes of Reuben and Gad, and half the tribe of Ma- 
nasseh, having large possessions in flocks and herds, and observ- 
ing that the conquered country on the east of the Jordan was 
rich in pasturage, applied to Moses that it should be given to 
them for their portion of the promised inheritance. As they 
explained that they sought not this for the sake of an earlier 
provision, or with a view to abandon the general cause, but 
were willing that their own men should go and assist the other 
tribes in the conquest of Canaan, their request was granted. 

7. Now that the host of Israel was composed of almost en- 
tirely new men, and that they were about to enter upon unwont- 
ed military actions, it was important that a fresh enumeration 
of the population should be taken. The comparison between 
it and the census taken thirty nine years before in Sinai, affords 


THE PEOPLE NUMEERED. 


47 


b. c. 1452.] 


some interesting information. The details are shown in the 
table. 


E7* 


Reuben, . 
Simeon, . 
Gad, . . 
Judah, 
Issachar, . 
Zebulon, . 
Ephraim, . 
Manasseh, 
Benjamin, 
Dan, 

Asher, 

Naphtali, 


Chap. i. Chap. xxvi. 

46.500 - - - 43,730 - - 

59', 300 - - - 22,200 - - 

45,650 - - . 40,500 - - 

74,600 - - - 76,500 - - 

54.400 - - - 64,300 - - 

57.400 - - - 60,500 - - 

40.500 ... 32,500 -. 

32,200 - - - 52,700 - - 

35.400 - - - 45,600 - - 

62,700 - - - 64,400 . - 

41.500 53,400 -- 

53.400 • - - 55,400 - . 


Increase. 

Decrease. 


- • * 2,770 

... 

■ - - 37,100 

... 

- - - 5,150 

1,900 



9,900 



3,100 


... 

- - - 8,000 

20,500 



10,200 



1,700 

... ... 

11,900 




- - - 8,000 


603,550 


Levites, from a 
month old, 



601,730 59,200 ... 61,020 

Decrease on the whole, 1,820 

23,000 --- 727 


8. From this comparison it appears that the population which 
had increased so rapidly in Egypt, had rather decreased in the 
wilderness. This is clearly a result of the Divine determination 
to remove by death in forty years the whole of those who were 
past twenty on quitting Egypt, in consequence of which there 
could now be no old men in the congregation ; and as the total 
population was nearly the same as when the Israelites commen- 
ced their journey, there must have been a great increase of the 
young, seeing there were none above sixty years old except*® 
Moses himself, who was soon to die, and Joshua and Caleb, 
who alone of the past generation were to enter the land of pro- 
mise. The absence of aged and superannuated members exhi- 
bited a strange and singular social condition ; and while their re- 
moval by death was intended in the first instance as a judgment, 
it at the same time gave a character of remarkably unencum- 
bered physical efficiency to the generation on which the con- 
quest of Canaan devolved. But although the full number is 
nearly the same, it is surprising to notice the very great changes 
of proportion in the several tribes — such as the increase of 
20,500 in Manasseh, 11,900 in Asher, and 10,200 in Benjamin; 
and the decrease of 37,100 in Simeon, and of 8000 in Ephraim 
and in Naphtali. On both occasions the number of Judah was 
the highest ; but on the first occasion the lowest (omitting Levi) 
was Manasseh, and on the second, Simeon. At the first enu- 
meration, the number of Judah more than doubled that of Ma- 
nasseh, Benjamin, and Levi, and nearly doubled those of Reu- 
ben, Gad, Ephraim, and Asher. At the second, Judah more 
than doubled Simeon, Ephriam, and Levi, and nearly doubled 
Reuben, Benjamin, and Naphtali. Levi was the lowest in both 
accounts; much lower, indeed, than appears; for in that tribe 
all the males above a month old were counted, but in the other 


48 


MOSES DIES. 


[b. c. 1451. 


tribes only those fit to bear arms, or above twenty years of age. 
The enumeration being, as before, made only with reference to 
the adult male population, we must quadruple the amount to 
find the actual population, including women and children, and 
tms, as before, we must necessarily estimate at about 2,500,000. 
.#3. All this being accomplished, it only remained for Moses to 
dife, and leave to other hands the task of conducting the chil- 
dren of Abraham into their promised inheritance. He there- 
fore prepared for death by giving to the people who had so long 
been the objects of his solicitude, such directions and counsel as 
their circumstances appeared to require. After describing the 
boundaries of the Promised Land, he appointed the mode in 
which it should be divided among the several tribes, and di- 
rected that cities should be appropriated by each of them for 
the residence of the Levites who had no territorial inheritance, 
and that six of these cities should be regarded as places in which 
those who undesignedly or in self-defence slew others, might 
hold their lives safe from the avenger of blood. (Num. xxxiv., 
xxxv.) 

* 10. After this Moses repeated the law which had been given 
on Mount Sinai to the people, a great proportion of whom had 
been born since it was delivered, or were too young to hold it in 
remembrance. He also recapitulated the acts of Divine mercy 
towards them, and judgment upon them, since the departure 
from Egypt ; and enjoined upon them the duty of destroying all 
the idols of Canaan, and of rooting out the doomed inhabitants. 
ggsPhen he renewed with the people, in the name of Jehovah, the 
Covenant which had been made in Sinai ; and delivered the book 
of the law to the care of the Levites, with directions to lay it 
up in the side of the ark. These particulars form the contents 
of the book of Deuteronomy. 

11. The official dutfes of this great and good man being now 
concluded, he delivered an address to the assembled multitude, 
in which he described, in the most vivid language, the perverse- 
ness and disobedience of the nation, their punishment, repent- 
ance, and pardon. Lastly, he took leave of all the tribes, to- 
gether and severally, in an eloquent and pathetic blessing , such 
as that which Jacob delivered to his sons before he died. Then, 
as he had been commanded, Moses ascended to the top of Pis- 
gah, and took from thence a wide survey of “ the pleasant land,” 
to whose borders he had led a nation. And there he died unseen; 
and he was buried secretly, and not by mortal hands ; for it was 
feared that if the Israelites knew the place of his sepulture, 
they might in the end be tempted to pay divine honours to his 
remains. At the time of his death Moses was 120 years of age, 
and we are told that he was exempt from the usual infirmities 
of age — that “his eye was not dim, nor his natural force 
abated.” 


4£S7 


49 


BOOK III. 

CHAPTER I. B. C. 1451. 


B. C. 

The Israelites cross the Jordan, 1451 
Circumcision restored, . . 1451 
The manna ceases, . . . 1451 


B C. 

Jericho taken and destroyed, 1451 
The offence of Achan, . . 1451 
Ai taken by stratagem, . . 1451 


1. After the death of their great lawgiver, the Israelites re- 
mained encamped in the “ plains of Moab,” awaiting the order 
to advance to the arduous enterprise of dispossessing nations 
greater, mightier, and better armed and disciplined than them- 
selves ; more experienced in the art of war, and dwelling nu 
fortified towns, with all the resources of the country at thgfj r ' 
command. So disproportionate seemed the situation of the in- 
vaders and the invaded, as to natural and acquired advantages, 
that the former, if they had looked to them only, might have 
been excused for regarding the result with some anxiety and 
apprehension. Certainly the Canaanites, regarded as a settled 
and valiant people, assailed by a comparatively undisciplined 
horde from the desert, may very well be spared the pity which 
some perverse understandings bestow upon them, as if 
were so many sheep awaiting the slaughter at the hands of 
Israelites. The disproportion was indeed so much to the disad- 
vantage of the Hebrews, that, to render the balance somewhat 
more equal, the Lord saw fit that the operations should com- 
mence by a series of special and signal acts of his own provi- 
dence, to encourage the chosen people, and to dismay their ene- 
mies. Indeed, the marvels which had attended their deliver- 
ance from Egypt, and their progress through the wilderness, 
were well known to the Canaanites, and had inspired them with 
dread — not of the Israelites themselves, whom they probably 
despised as enemies — but of the God, the mighty and terrible 
God, who fought for tnem. 

2. In the plain on the other side of the river stood the city of 

Jericho, which must evidently be the first object of attack after 
the passage of the river. Joshua, therefore, sent spies to that 
place to collept information, and to ascertain the sentiments of 
the people. The spies were lodged by a woman named Rahab, 
who also concealed them when they were inquired for by the 
authorities of the place ; and from her they received the en- 
couraging information that the Canaanites were already dispi- 
rited “ Your terror is fallen upon us,” she said, “and all the 
inhabitants of the land faint because of you As soon as we 

E 



50 THE ISRAELITES CROSS JORDAN. [b. C. 14*51. 

3iad heard these things, our hearts did melt ; neither did there 
Temain any more courage in any man because of you : for the 
Lord your God, he is God in heaven above, and in earth be- 
neath.” It was, in fact, thus to glorify his own great name, en- 
forcing the conviction of His pre-eminence in power upon even 
those who did not serve him, that the Lord had wrought the 
wonders of which the Israelites were to reap the benefit. 

3. The design of the Israelites to establish themselves in Pal- 
estine, and to root out the old inhabitants, was perfectly well 
known to the Canaanites ; but they appear to have made no 
extraordinary preparations to repel the invaders, — trusting, prob- 
ably, to the obstacle which at this time the river Jordan appear- 
ed to offer to their progress ; for it was the time of the barley 
harvest, about the vernal equinox, when the river, swollen with 
the latter rains and the melted snows, overflowed its banks, and 
ran witkihe fullest stream to the Dead Sea. In this calcula- 

they underrated the power of that Almighty arm which 
* they had already learned to dread. * 

4. At length the order came to pass the river on a given day ; 


Ford of Jordan, 1 

and this order was accompanied with a distinct confirmation to 
Joshua of his high and glorious office, attended with the assur- 
ance that, while he adhered to the principles and spirit of the 


CIRCUMCISION RESTORED. 


b. c. 1451.] 


51 


theocracy, none of those who opposed him should be able to 
stand before him. ¥his appointment was recognized with ac- 
clamations by the people, who readily covenanted their obedi- 
ence: and with them Joshua appears to have been at all times 
very popular ; nor was his administration disturbed by such dis- 
contents and seditions as disgraced the Israelites in the time of 
Moses. 

5. The day appointed for the passage of the Jordan was the 
tenth day of the first month, only five days being wanting to 
complete forty years since the departure of the Hebrews from 
Egypt. On that day, the ark of the covenant was borne in sol- 
emn state by the priests, about one thousand yards before the 
people on their march to the river’s bank. No* sooner had the 
feet of the priests touched the water, than the course of the 
river at that point was stayed. The waters above suspended 
their course, while those below hastened into the Dead Sea, ' 
leaving the bed of the river dry for the hosts of Israel to pass 
over. The priests bearing the ark entered, and stood in the mid^pp 
channel, under the wall of paters, until all the ho§ts of Israel 
had gone over. Then the priests also left the river’s bed ; 'and 
no sooner had they reached the bank, than the suspended wa- 
ters resumed their course. As a standing memorial of this stu- 
pendous miracle, twelve large stones from the bed of the river 
were set up in the plain ; and twelve stones from the shore were 
deposited in the bed of the river. 

6. At the place where the stones were set up, namely, a|j|fc 
Gilgal, in the plain of Jericho, the Israelites formed their firfQHP 
encampment in Canaan. Instead of proceeding to take advan- 
tage of the panic with which this event had inspired the inhabi- 
tants, as mere human policy would have dictated, by at once 
marching against them, the Israelites were directed to the ob- 
servance of the details of that covenant under which they 
claimed their inheritance. Therefore, in the first place, the rite 

of circumcision, which had been intermitted during the sojourn 
in the wilderness, was renewed, *and all the persons, forty years 
old and under, who had been born since the departure from 
Egypt, were taken into the Abrahamic covenant by being cir- 
cumcised at Gilgal. They were then in a condition to observe 
the passover, the time for which had come round ; and this was 
the third celebration of that remarkable ordinance, as it had 
been entirely neglected since the second celebration in Sinai. 
The day after the passover they began to eat the corn-, the fruits, 
and other products of the soil of Canaan ; and then the miracu- 
lous supply of manna, by which they had been so long fed, alto- 
gether ceased. It should be observed that the tabernacle was 
set up at Gilgal, and that it remained there during the seven 
years employed in the conquest of Canaan.- Gilgal may, there- 
fore, be regarded as the head-quarters of the Israelites through- 
out that period. 

7. When Joshua wag one day surveying the strong defences 


52 


JERICHO TAKEN AND DESTROYED. [b. C. 1451. 


of Jericho, a person with a drawn sword in his hand appeared 
suddenly before him. He announced himself as the “ Captain of 
the Lord’s host,” and commanded Joshua to take the sandals 
off his feet, because the ground was holy on which he stood. 
The prostration and worship rendered by the Hebrew chief on 
this occasion indicates that this was the same mysterious being 
who had spoken to Moses from the burning bush. His object 
was to encourage Joshua, by directing his attention to the fact, 
that the success of the great enterprise before him depended not 
upon his own skill and valour, nor upon the endurance and cour- 
age of his forces, but upon the assistance of the Almighty, who 
had covenanted to bestow the land upon them, and who would 
ensure the victory to his people in every contest which they un- 
dertook with a becoming confidence in their Divine leader. To 
evince this, in the first instance, means were to be taken in the 
siege of Jericho which would be wholly inoperative under ordi- 
nary circumstances, and which would, therefore, refer the vic- 
tory solely to that Almighty arm which was made bare to fight 
for the chosen people. Accordingly, the army was - directed to 
march round the city in solemn state on six successive days, pre- 
ceded by the ark, before which went seven priests with rams’- 
horn trumpets in their hands. This seemingly idle parade pro- 
bably occasioned nothing but wonder to the people of Jericho, 
whom we may conceive crowding the walls to behold the spec- 
tacle. On the seventh day this circumambulation was repeated 

I even times, and at the completion of the seventh circuit, the 
iiests blew a long blast with their trumpets, and the people 
aised a tremendous shout. At that instant, the strong walls of 
Jericho fell level with the ground, and free ingress was offered 
on every side to the Israelites, who, the place having before 
been put under a ban of devotement to utter ruin, slew every 
living creature with the sword, excepting only the woman, Ra- 
hab, by whom the spies had been entertained. (Josh, vi.) 

8. Not only every living creature in Jericho had been devoted 
to extinction, but all the effects were to be destroyed, save arti- 
cles of precious metal, which were to be consecrated to the 
Lord, and laid up for the service of the Tabernacle. But a man 
named Achan, of the tribe of Judah, overcome by covetousness, 
appropriated to his own use, and concealed in his tent, a costly 
garment of Babylonish work, which should have been destroy- 
ed, and an ingot of gold, which should have been consecrated 
to the Lord. The disgraceful repulse and flight of a party 
which had been sent to take the neighbouring town of Ai, filled 
Joshua with anxiety and alarm, — such a circumstance being 
likely to impair that confidence of assured success, which had 
thus far encouraged the Israelites and disheartened their ene- 
mies. He complained before the Lord, and was answered that 
the repulse was a punishment for the infraction of the vow of 
devotement, by the concealment in the camp of some of the 
spoil of Jericho. 


AI TAKEN BY STRATAGEM. 


53 


B. c. 1451.] 

9. On hearing this, the lot was resorted to for the detection 
of the offender. Achan was taken, and having confessed the 
crime, was stoned to death, and a tumulus of stones was raised 
over his body. After this expurgation, Ai was in another 
attempt easily taken by a stratagem, in which one body, by a 
pretended flight, drew out the defenders in pursuit, on which, 
another body, which had lain in ambuscade, rushed into the 
town, and set it on fire. The pretended fugitives then turned 
upon their pursuers, who, being also attacked in the rear by the 
other body, and seeing their town in flames, were panic-struck, 
and easily cut in pieces. Twelve thousand, being the whole in- 
habitants, perished on this occasion ; and the king, who was ta- 
ken prisoner, was put to the sword, and his body hanged on a tree 
until the evening, when it was taken down, and buried at the 
gate of the place under a heap of stones. This and many similar 
acts of the Israelites in their warfare with the Canaanites, were 
very cruel ; but in these times all wars were carried on with 
great cruelly, as they still are in the countries of the Ea^st ; and 
the conduct of the Hebrew invaders of Palestine was only in 
accordance with the war-practice of the time and country, and 
was not more cruel than would have been exercised towards 
themselves, had they been defeated and the Canaanites victori- 
ous. As the Lord was employing the sword of the Israelites 
for the extermination of a very guilty people, whose iniquities 
had at this time reached the highest point of aggravation, he 
did not direct that the invaders of Palestine should introduce 
any milder usages of war than those which then ordinarily pi^* 
vailed. (Josh, viii.) 

10. There can be no doubt that the success of the Hebrew 
armies was much facilitated by the absence of any large or cen- 
tral government, or of any one power strong enough to act in 
opposition to the invaders. The country was still, as in the 
time of the Patriarchs, broken up into a vast number of small 
independent states, which differed even in the form of govern- 
ment, — some being monarchical, and others republican ; but the 
monarchical form was the most prevalent, and every chief over 
one or more towns, with a few dependent villages and a nar- 
row tract of surrounding country, was dignified with the title 
of king. Among these kings there were a few who, from their 
proportionately larger territories, their success in war, or gen- 
eral character, had sufficient influence, on occasions of great 
and general emergency, to induce a number of the others to con- 
federate with them for the common benefit; but during the en- 
tire period of this war of life and death, no such confederacy 
was ever formed by the Canaanites, as brought all the military 
resources of the country to bear at one time against the He- 
brew host. 


E* 


54 


CHAPTER II. B. C. 1451 to 1426. 


Treaty with the Gibeonites, . 1451 
Defeat of the five Amorite 


Amunoph III. (Rathotis) the 
supposed Memnon of the 
vocal statue, 1430 


EGYPT. 


Kings, 


1451 


The solemnity at Ebal and 
Gerizim, 


1454 


The Tabernacle established at 

Shiloh, 1445 

First Division of Lands, . . 1445 

Second Division of Lands, . 1440 

Death of Joshua, .... 1426 

1. The inhabitants of the land appear to have trusted very 
much to the obstacle which their fortified towns would offer to 
the progress of the Israelites ; but the capture of two such 
strong places as Jericho and Ai awoke them from this confi- 
dence, and evinced the necessity of some decided course of 
action. Among the “ kings” of that part of Palestine in which 
the invaders lay, five are named, who, headed by Adonizedek, 
king of Jerusalem, confederated together to resist them. If the 
states in this quarter had been disposed to make overtures of 
peace, or even of tribute, they were doubtless prevented, by the 
knowledge that the Israelites were bent on dispossessing them 
altogether, and were under orders to enter into no treaties with 
them. The knowledge of this did not, however, prevent the 
inhabitants of Gibeon from attempting to obtain by stratagem 
what they knew would be refused to a direct application. Am- 
bassadors were sent to the Hebrew camp at Gilgal, cunningly 
dressed up and disguised to appear as travel-worn men, whom 
the renown of the Lord’s marvellous acts in behalf of Israel had 
drawn from a far country, to enter into engagements of friend- 
ship and peace with so highly favoured a people. Deceived by 
their appearance and their professions, the Hebrews entered in- 
to the proposed engagements, without previously consulting 
their Divine King. For this neglect they were very soon pun- 
ished by discovering how they had been outwitted, when they 
sought counsel as to the binding nature of an obligation incurred 
under such circumstances. They were told that a covenant so 
solemnly contracted must be held binding ; but that its terms 
did not not prevent the Gibeonites being reduced to servitude. 
A tribute of labour, in hewing wood and drawing water, was 
therefore exacted from them, (Josh, ix.) 

2. The kings, whose confederacy we have just mentioned, 
were much troubled at the defection of the Gibeonites and the 
alliance they had formed. Determined to punish them first, the 
five kings made their appearance in arms before Gibeon. The 


55 


B. C. 1451.] DEFEAT OF THE FIVE AMORITE KINGS, 

inhabitants in this extremity sent to claim the protection of 
Joshua, who immediately went, at the head of a strong force, 
to their assistance. A rapid march by night brought him un- 
expectedly upon the besiegers, who were routed with great 
slaughter ; those that fled were hotly pursued all the day. The 
fugitives were sorely distressed also by a shower of large stones, 
by which the Lord evinced that He fought for Israel ; and when, 
under the coyer of advancing night, many of them seemed like- 
ly to escape into the fortified towns, the light of day was pro- 
longed at the request of Joshua, who, urged by the strong im- 
pulse of his faith, which taught him that even such a mani- 
festation of the Divine power would not be refused, cried, “ Sun, 
stand still upon Gibeon; and thou, moon, in the valley of 
Ajalon.” Being ignorant of the true system of astronomy, 
Joshua described what appeared to him and those who heard 
him to be the only means of producing the desired result. His 
mandate was obeyed ; the day was lengthened ; or, in the sense 
in which Joshua and the people understood it, “ the sun stood 
still, and the moon stayed,” until the desired objects had been 
secured. As the worship of the Canaanites and other idolaters 
ultimately resolves itself into the worship of the heavenly bodies, 
of which the sun and moon are the chief, nothing could more 
strikingly evince the omnipotence of the God whom the He- 
brews worshipped, than this proof, that the most glorious objects 
of the material world, of which men made to themselves gods, 
were but the creatures ofhis power. 

3. The five kings were found hid in a cave near Makkedah, 
from which, when the pursuit was over, they were brought out, 
and the principal Hebrew officers set their feet upon their necks, 
which was a well-known act and symbol of victory in the East. 
They were then slain and hung upon trees until the evening, as 
the king of Ai had been. At evening, as the law required 
(Deut. xx. 16, 17), they were taken down, and their bodies were 
returned to the cave which had been their refuge. With his 
usual ability, Joshua took advantage of the panic which his sig- 
nal success and the attendant miracles had on this occasion in- 
spired, and overran and reduced the greater part of the country 
from Gibeon southward to the desert frontier, including the cities 
of Makkedah, Libnah, Lachish, Eglon, Debir, and Hebron. 
The attack on Debir was commanded by Caleb, who, according 
to a romantic oriental usage, announced* that he would give his 
daughter Achsah in marriage to the man who should first en- 
ter the town, or most distinguish himself in the assault. The 
prize of gallantry was won by Othniel, Caleb’s own nephew, 
whom we shall hereafter recognise as the first “ Judge” in Is- 
rael. After all these victories, Joshua led back his army to 
Gilgal. 

4. The success of this campaign gave great alarm to the 
princes of the north, who united in a very powerful league, 
headed by Jabin, king of Hazor. The allies took the field with 


56 


THE SOLEMNITY AT EBAL AND GERIZIM. [b. C. 1451. 

such a vast force as seemed fully equal to the task of crushing 
the invaders by one stroke. Their army comprehended a pro- 
portion of horses and chariots of war: — and this is the first oc- 
casion on which horses are mentioned in Palestine, and the first 
time that they were brought into action against the Israelites, 
who themselves had no cavalry till long after. In dealing with 
this very formidable host, the Hebrew general followed his 
usual course: he penetrated into Upper Galilee by rapid march- 
es, and falling upon the enemy when least expected, defeated 
them with tremendous slaughter. This great loss so broke the 
power and spirits of the Canaanites, that, while Joshua lived, 
no other powerful combination could be formed against the Is- 
raelites, who occupied themselves in reducing in detail the pet- 
ty kings and cities of the country. In the course of five years, 
thirty-one of these little states were subdued. This was the 
period of exterminating and merciless warfare, to avoid the hor- 
rors of which, it appears that some of these nations emigrated 
to foreign lands ; and there are traditions which might lead us 
to trace some of them to the northern shores of Africa. The 
towns which the Israelites were unable to occupy or defend, 
they destroyed. These were chiefly such as were situated in 
the plains ; for of those that stood on hills Hazor only was de- 
stroyed. 

5. At the end of five years, Joshua had reduced the greater 
part of the country from the mountains of Seir to those of 
Lebanon. The portion lying to the south of the great plain of 
^sdraelon was the most completely subjugated : and it seemed 
proper to determine Avithout further delay to what tribes that 
portion should belong. The southern part of this territory was 
given to Judah, and the northern part to Ephraim, and the un- 
provided half tribe of Manasseh. The five tribes were provid- 
ed for ; two and a half on each side of the river Jordan. 
This first distribution of territory seemed a suitable occasion for 
the removal of the tabernacle from Gilgal to the interior of the 
conquered country. Shiloh, in the territory of Ephraim, and 
near the centre of the land, was the place chosen ; and there 
it continued above 450 years, until the time of Samuel. It 
appears to have been on the way to this place that, the Israel- 
ites, in passing by the mountains of Ebal and Gerizim, went 
through the august and striking ceremonial which Moses had 
long before directed to be celebrated in that place, and 
whereby he had Avisely provided that the assembled peo- 
ple should, on taking possession of their inheritance, once 
more solemnly declare their acceptance of the institutions 
Avhich had been given to them (Deut. xxvii.) The fundamental 
laws were inscribed on plastered pillars, and sacrifices Avere of- 
fered on a large altar of unhewn stone. Then six of the tribes 
stood on Mount Ebal, and the other six tribes on Mount Gerizim ; 
while the ark with the priests and Levites was stationed in the 
valley between. In that vast audience, the loud voices of the 


B. C. 1440 .] SECOND DIVISION OF LANDS. 57 

' i 

Levites proclaimed blessings on the obedient, and curses on the 
disobedient to the law ; and each clause of blessing and of curse 
was met by a grand responsive ‘ ‘Amen !” from the thousands of Is- 
rael, — for the blessings from Gerizim, and for the curses from Ebal. 

6. The five or six following years were consumed in a desul- 
tory warfare with the unconquered states. It would appear 
that the existing population did not yet need all the country, and 
found enough to occupy them in what they had already acquir- 
ed. At all events, the first ardour of action had so much sub- 
sided, that at length Joshua rebuked the tribes for their back- 
wardness in taking full possession of their heritage. Anxious, 
however, that the territorial distribution should be settled be- 
fore his death, he determined that all that remained to be done 
with regard to such a distribution should be at once effected, 
leaving the tribes to assist one another in getting complete pos- 
session of the domains which fell to them. As it appeared pro- 
bable that the portions already given were too large in propor- 
tion to the whole, it was deemed necessary that properly quali- 
fied persons should be sent through the land to survey it, and to 
enter the particulars in a book. It is not improbable that some 
kind of map was constructed on this occasion ; and, altogether, 
the circumstance is interesting as indicating the earliest terri- 
torial survey on record. 

7. The result of this operation manifested that too much land 
had been given at the previous distribution, and that the seven 
remaining tribes could not be adequately provided for out of u 
what remained ; and room was therefore made for two other 
tribes in the portion which had been assigned to Judah, and for 
one in that which had been given to Ephraim. To prevent 
disputes, the seven portions were distributed by lot to the seven 
tribes : and that the determination of the lot were divinely di- 
rected was evinced by the fact, that the position and territory 
given to each of the tribes corresponded exactly to the prophetic 
descriptions given by Jacob and Moses. The lot gave to Si- 
meon and Dan the two portions which had been formed out of 
the territory of Judah, and to Benjamin that which had 
been taken from Ephraim. The four portions in the north, form- 
ing what was afterwards called Galilee, were assigned by the 
lot to Zebulun, Issachar, Asher, and Naphtali. The tribe of 
Levi had no territory assigned to it: but each of the tribes gave 
four towns with their suburbs for the residence of the Levites, 
whereby the members of that tribe were equally and judiciously 
dispersed through the country : and, although there was but one 
tabernacle and one altar, a determinate localization, in every 
tribe, was made of the institutions and officers of the Divine 
King. Of the forty-eight cities given to the tribe of Levi, thir- 
teen were allotted to the priesthood, all in the tribes of Judah 
and Benjamin. Six of the forty-eight, at proper distances from 
each other, were made cities of refuge for the man-slayer. These 
were, on the west of the Jordan, Hebron in Judah, Shechem in 


58 


DEATH OF JOSHUA. 


[B. C, 1426 . 

Ephraim, and Kedesh in Naphtali : and on the east, Bezer in the 
wilderness, Ramoth in Gilead, and Golan in Bashen. 

8. This important operation having- been completed under 
the direction of Joshua and Eleazer, the high-priest, it seemed 
proper to dismiss to their homes the warriors of the tribes be- 
yond Jordan, who, according to agreement, had hitherto accom- 
panied the other tribes, and assisted them in their warfare. — 
Joshua, therefore, called them together, and, after ackowledg- 
ing their services, and exhorting them them to maintain their 
allegiance to the Divine King, and their union with the other 
tribes, sent them away with his blessing. The returning tribes 
having crossed the Jordan, erected, at the passage of Bethaba- 
ra, a great altar, which threatened to produce a serious misun- 
derstanding between them and the tribes on this side the river. 
The law allowed but one altar for sacrifices ; and it was hastily 
concluded that the trans-Jordanic tribes designed to destroy the 
unity of the nation, by setting up a separate altar and a separate 
establishment on their side the river. This apprehension so 
awoke the indignation and zeal of the other tribes, that they 
assembled in large numbers at Shiloh, bent^n making war 
with the tribes beyond Jordan, unless a satisfaCTory explanation 
were obtained. Delegates were sent to remonstrate with them, 
and to invite them to come and share the country west of the 
Jordan, if they deemed that river so great a barrier as to dis- 
connect them from the central altar and establishment at Shi- 
loh. The charge was, however, repelled with horror by the 
trans-Jordanic tribes, who explained that the altar was not in- 
tended for sacrifices, but for an abiding monument of their com- 
mon origin, interest, polity, and worship, — of that very unity 
which they were charged with an intention to discover. This 
statement was received with great satisfaction, and the name of 
Ed, “ a Witness,” was given to the altar of memorial. 

9. Joshua appears to have lived about fourteen years after 
the second division of the lands. During this period, the peo- 
ple ceased to prosecute the war against the Canaanites. It 
would seem that the several tribes having as much land and 
as many towns as they at present wanted, applied themselves 
to agriculture and the pursuits of settled life, and each tribe be- 
came too much engrossed in its own concerns to assist the oth- 
ers in getting full possession of their territory. • It was well 
that they took so early and decided a turn towards their intend- 
ed vocation as an agricultural people, and that the old inhabi- 
tants were not too rapidly expelled before the Hebrews were 
able to take their place and to occupy their cities ; but it was 
dangerous to them as the peculiar people, that they were in a 
position to form connexion with the idolaters, and to be contam- 
inated by their abominations. There was also reason to fear 
that the Canaanites, by being left alone, would in time gather 
strength again to make head against the chosen race. All this 
happened accordingly, but not in the time of Joshua. 


OTHNIEL DELIVERS ISRAEL. 


B. C. 1405 .] OTHNIEL DELIVERS ISRAEL. 59 

10. Although the old patriarchal idolatries and those of Egypt 
were secretly practised by some individuals, yet the people were 
upon the whole, obedient to the Divine King, and therefore pros- 
perous, during the life of Joshua. To confirm them in Teir 
obedience, Joshua, m his latter days, convened two general as- 
semblies, m which he earnestly exhorted them to be faithful to 

thp T orWL 0 !} laSt oc f aslon he cau «ed the covenant, by which 
beC T e 1 1611 soverei S n > to be solemnly acknow- 
edged and renewed. As a standing memorial of this transac- 

m’v WaS Under a tree that S rew near the sanc- 

tuary, and a record of it was made in the Book of the Law.— 

boon a fter this the illustrious warrior and devoted upholder of 
the theocratical institutions, died at the age of 110 years 


CHAPTER III. B. C. 1426 to 1285. 


PALESTINE. 

B. C. 

Othniel delivers Is- 
rael, .... 1405 

Ehud, . . . . 1323 

Shamgar, . . 1305 

Deborah and Ba- 
rak, . . . 1285 


EGYPT. 

B. C. 

Amun-men (Acheu- 
chres or Chebres,) 1408 
Remeses 1. Acheu- 
chres or Acher- 
res), . . . 1395 

Osirei I. (As- 
mais), . . 1385 

Remeses II., or the 
Great, . . . 1355 

Pthahmen Thmeiof- 
tep ? (Ameno- 
his). . . . 1289 


EVENTS aND PERSONS. 

B. C. 

Musaeus the Poet, 
Minos. King of 1 
Crete', . . . 1406 

Eleusinian Myste- 
ries introduced at 
Athens by Eumol- 
pus, . . . 1356 

The Isthmian Games 
instituted, . 1326 

Orpheus the Poet. 


1. We now enter upon the time of the Judges, a period of 
331 years (1426 to 1095 B. C.), during which we shall find the 
Hebrew nation afflicted or prosperous, in proportion to their neg- 
lect or observance of the conditions of their covenant with their 
Divine King. When they turned from God, and worshipped 
idols, He humbled them before their enemies, by whom they 
were subjected to the yoke of bondage ; and when at length, in 
their misery, they repented and turned to God, he sent them de- 
liverers, named “ Judges,” under whom they continued prosper- 
ous, until they sinned again, when they were again punished. 

2. During the generation which had taken the covenant un- 
der Joshua, idolatry, although it had never been wholly eradi- 
cated, was never allowed to predominate in the nation. Soon, 
however, the idols of Canaan began to receive that homage 


60 


IDOLATRY INCREASES. 


[b. c. 1425. 

which had formerly been given to those of Mesopotamia and 
Egypt. This increasing tendency to idolatry arose from the 
continued remissness of the Israelites in their conduct towards 
the Canaanites. Only a few tribes made war upon them, and 
these soon grew weary of the contest. In most cases where they 
had the ascendancy, they were content to hold the Canaanites 
under tribute, although this had been forbidden by an express 
law ; and their intercourse becoming gradually more intimate* 
they engaged in affairs of commerce, and intermarried with the 
native inhabitants. 

3. Joshua has been blamed by some for not asking permission 
to appoint a successor in the government ; but his office was one 
in which no successor was needed. He was a military com- 
mander, not a civil governor. The Lord himself, enthroned in 
the Tabernacle, was the political and civil, as well as the reli- 
gious, head of the nation ; and there were established means of 
obtaining the commands of the Divine King on all questions 
that could arise, through the instrumentality of his chief min- 
ister, the high-priest. In those days the functions of general 
government were so simple, that this theocratical institution con- 
tained every element of stability and safety, had its principles 
and advantages been properly understood by the people. The 
administration of justice among them had been well provided 
for ; the business of public instruction was in the hands of the 
Levites, in their several cities ; and the internal concerns of the 
several tribes were sufficiently cared for by their own patriarchal 
or family chiefs and elders. 

4. The only military operation of any note shortly after the 
death of Joshua, consisted in the endeavours of the tribe of 
Judah, assisted by Simeon, to get full possession of its terrritory. 
In this it seems to have succeeded generally; but it was un- 
able to expel the Jebusites from the strong fortress which form- 
ed the upper town of Jerusalem. In one action against Adoni- 
bezek, in Bezek, ten thousand Canaanites were slain, and the 
king was taken prisoner. His thumbs and great toes were cut 
off, in retribution for the manner in which he had been wont to 
treat his own captives ; for he himself declared that seventy 
kings, whose thumbs and great toes he had cut off, gathered 
their bread under his table. 

5. The high-priest Eleazer did not long outlive Joshua, and 
he was succeeded by his son Phineas. Early in his administra- 
tion, “ the angel of the Lord,” who had appeared to Joshua at 
Gilgal, again appeared to the people when assembled before the 
tabernacle at Shiloh, and, having solemnly reprehended their 
conduct with regard to the Canaanites, threatened no longer to 
vouchsafe Almighty power for their expulsion, but to leave the 
remainder of the Canaanites for a test and trial of faithfulness. 
This authoritative rebuke produced some effect, and moved them 
to such cries and tears as caused the place to be called Bochim 
{weepers). 


DEATH OF OTHNIEL. 


61 


b< c* 1405.] 

6. But the impression produced was of short duration. The 
last five chapters of the book of Judges relate events which be- 
long to the time of Phineas, and give a melancholy view of the 
moral condition of the nation at this period. The tribe of Dan 
being pressed for room in its southern allotment, and being una- 
ble to get possession of the portions of territory which were suc- 
cessfully defended by the Canaanites, sent out a portion of 
its members to seek out a situation where they might more 
easily form a settlement. This they found near the source of the 
Jordan, where they took the town of Leshem or Laish from the 
inhabitants, who were living in security, and changed its name 
to Dan, — under which name it is often celebrated as the most 
northerly town of Palestine in tne popular phrase, “ from Dan 
v m the north) to Beersheba (in the south),” which described the 
whole length of the land. On this occasion a modified system 
of idolatry w r as introduced into this tribe. The depravity of the 
inhabitants of the Benjamite city of G-isbah, and the grievous 
maltreatment of a Levite and his wife, roused the other tribes to 
warlike operations, on the refusal of the Benjamites to give up 
the offenders. This infatuated tribe had some success in the 
first and second actions ; but in a third, their reverse was so com- 
plete, and the ensuing carnage so dreadful, that the tribe was 
nearly exterminated, and never wholly recovered the blow, but 
ever after remained the smallest tribe in Israel. 

7. To punish the disorders, which these circumstances illus- 
trate rather than describe, the Lord in his anger brought the na- 
tion into subjection to a distant and unexpected enemy, Cushan 
Rishathaim, a king from beyond the Euphrates, who kept the 
Israelites under severe tributary bondage for eight years. At the 
end of that time tney turned to the Divine King against whom 
they had so grievously revolted ; am. he moved Othniel, the 
nephew of Caleb, to act for their deliverance. After some de- 
sultory warfare, a general action was fought, in which the com- 
plete victory of the Israelites effected their deliverance from 
the Mesopotamian yoke. After this, Othniel, as “judge,” or re- 
gent for the Divine King, directed the foreign and military policy 
of southern Israel for forty years, during which time the people 
continued true to their allegiance, and dwelt in peace. 

8. On his death, the Israelites again returned to their idola- 
trous practices, and were punished by their jealous neighbours 
and relatives, the Moabites, who, finding the chosen people not 
invincible, ventured a battle, and, being victorious, reduced to 
subjection the tribes beyond Jordan, and, at length, also the 
southern tribes on this side the river. Eglon, the king, then fix- 
ed his residence at Jericho, as the best means of establishing his 
power, by controlling the communications of the tribes which 
the river separated. The Hebrews were kept under tribute for 
eighteen years ; at the expiration of which, one of the tribute- 
bearers, Ehud of Benjamin, secretly murdered the king, whose 
death struck the Moabites with such consternation, that the Is- 


62 


DEBORAH AND BARAK. 


[b. c. 1296. 

raelites were enabled, under the conduct of Ehud, to shake ofi 
their yoke. Ehud’s act was murder ; but in the East, such acts 
are considered as sanctioned by public objects and successful re- 
sults. 

9. The victory over the Moabites was followed by a repose of 
eighty years, at the end of which the Philistines first invaded 
the land of Judah. But their force was encountered by a body of 
husbandmen, under the conduct of Shamgar, who, although arm- 
ed only with the instruments which they employed in goading 
their oxen,* repelled them with great slaughter. If Shamgar, 
in consequence of this victory, became judge in southern Israel, 
it does not appear that he lived long to enjoy that honour. 

10. In the 200 years which had elapsed since their discomfi- 
ture by Joshua, the northern Canaanites had gradually recovered 
such power as enabled them to form another confederacy against 
the Israelites, headed by Jabin, king of Hazor. He had at his 
disposal a large army, comprehending 900 iron-armed chariots 
of war, which the Israelites regarded with peculiar dread. With 
such a force, commanded by Sisera, one of the ablest generals of 
that age, he grievously oppressed the northern tribes for twenty 



Mount Tabor. 


• These ox-goads, which are still used in'the East, were good substitutes 
for spears. They are often eight feet long, armed at one end with a sharp 
point, for goading the oxen, and at the other with a kind of spade or pad 
die for clearing the plough of clay, &c. 


DEBORAH AND BARAK. 


63 


b. c, 1296.J 

years ; and his yoke appears to have been more intolerable than 
any which they had previously sustained. At the end of that 
time, Deborah, a prophetess of Mount Ephraim, was moved by 
a Divine impulse to exhort Barak, of the tribe of Naphtali, to 
undertake the deliverance of the afflicted tribes. With some re- 
luctance he accepted the call, on condition that she went with 
him. He assembled 10,000 men, near Mount Tabor, with whom, 
confiding in G-od, he gave battle to the numerous hosts of Jabin 
in the plain of Esdraelon. The Canaanites were completely 
routed ; and a sudden inundation of the river Kishon swept away 
great numbers of the fugitives. Sisera found refuge in the tent 
of a pastoral chief, a Kinite, named Heber, whose wife Jael of- 
fered him hospitality and protection ; but while he slept, she 
treacherously slew him by driving a tent-pin through his tem- 
ples, and nailing his head to the ground. This great victory 
was celebrated by Deborah, in a song of thanksgiving, abound- 
ing in the richest ornaments of sacred oriental poetry. (Judg. 
iv. 5.) 


CHAPTER IV. B. C. 1285 to 1157. 


PATRIARCHS. 


Gideon, . . 

B. C. 

1242 

Abimelcch, . . 

1236 

Tola, 

f 1232 

Jair, .... 

1210 

Jephthah, . . 

. 1198 

Ibzan, . . . . 

1182 

Eion, .... 

1176 

Abdon, . . 

1165 

Eli, 

1157 


EGYPT. 

B. C. 

Pthah-men- Septhah 
[Sethos], . . 1269 
Osirei II. (Ramp- 
ses) . . . 1255 

Amenophthis, . 1245 
Remeses III. . 1235 
Remeses IV. (Amme- 
nemes) . . . 1205 
Remeses V. (Thu- 
oris) .... 1195 
Remeses VI. . 1180 

Remeses VII. . 1170 


EVENTS AND PEI.SON 1 . 

B. C. 

The Argonautic Ex- 
pedition, . . 1263 

The Pythian Games 
instituted, . 1263 

The rape of Helen 
by Paris, . . 1198 

Troy taken by the 
Greeks, . . 1184 


1. The defeat of Sisera was followed by a repose of forty 
years. At the end of that time the Midianites, Amalekites, and 
other nomad tribes, began to invade Palestine in great numbers, 
treading down the cultivated lands under the feet of their numer- 
ous herds, seizing the fruits of the ground, taking away the cat- 
tle, plundering men and houses, and, in short, ravaging the coun- 
try as the Bedouin Arabs are wont to do at the present time, when 
there is no power sufficient to restrain them. Like them, also, 
the Midianites withdrew on the approach of winter, and return- 


64 


GIDEON DELIVERS ISRAEL. 


[b. c. 1242. 

ed in the early summer to gather that which the Israelites had 
sown, and for which they had laboured. This oppression con- 
tinued for seven years, and became so grievous, that many of 
the people sought refuge in the dens and caves of the wilder- 
ness ; and it is perhaps to this period that we should refer the 
migration to the land of Moab of that Elimelech, the touching 
history of whose widow and daughter-in-law forms the beauti- 
ful episode contained in the book of Ruth. 

2. In their deep trouble, the Israelites at length cried to the 
God who had so.often delivered them in time past. A prophet 
was then sent to’rebuke their ingratitude ; but also to promise 
deliverance. Accordingly, as Gideon, a man of the tribe of Ma- 
nasseh, was secretly threshing wheat in a winepress, to hide it 
from the Midianites, an angel of God appeared to him, and 
commissioned him to undertake the deliverance of Israel. Gid- 
eon first sought to decline so high a trust, and then requested a 
token that the commission was indeed from heaven. His re- 
quest was granted ; for, at the touch of the angel’s staff, fire 
broke forth and consumed, as a sacrifice, the kid and the bread 
which Gideon had set before his visitant, who disappeared, and 
left him “ filled with the Spirit of God,” — a spirit of faith and 
fortitude, equal to the great enterprise which lay before him. — 
In answer to his prayer, another sign was given to Gideon ; — 
a fleece which he spread out upon the open threshing floor be- 
came wet with dew, while the ground was dry ; and again, the 
fleece alone was dry, while the soil was wet all around. 

3. Now strong in faith, Gideon overthrew the altar which his 
father had erected to Baal, and cut down the trees of the “ sa- 
cred” grove which he had planted around it. Then proceeding 
into the country, he blew the trumpet of war, when 32,000 
men gathered to his standard. But the Lord, knowing the un- 
belief and distrust that prevailed among them, directed Gideon 
to proclaim that all who were fearful and faint-hearted might 
withdraw. Availing themselves of this permission, 22,000 
took their departure, so that only 10,000 were left. Even these 
were too many for the Lord’s purpose, which required that the 
means employed should be so evidently inadequate, that the 
glory of the deliverance might be entirely his own. Gideon 
was therefore directed to lead his thirsty troops to the river, 
and permit them to drink. The greater part bent down to the 
surface of the water, to imbibe large draughts at ease and lei- 
sure ; but a few lapped up the water in the hollow of their 
hands, as men in haste. Those who stooped down to drink 
were ordered by Gideon to retire to their houses ; and by the 
others, who were only 300 in number, the deliverance of Is- 
rael was promised. The host which this handful of men had 
to encounter, lay encamped in the plain of Esdraelon. Encour- 
aged by ascertaining, in a night-visit to their camp, that the 
Midianites were already dispirited, and might easily be struck 
with a panic, the Hebrew commander instructed his men to pro- 


JEPHTHAH DELIVERS ISRAEL 


65 


b. c. 1236.] 

vide themselves with earthen pitchers, and to place in each 
pitcher a lighted lamp. The pitcher containing the lamp in 
one hand, and a trumpet in the other, formed the weapons of 
their warfare. The 300 men, in three bands of 100 each, ap- 
proached the sleeping host of Midian, in silence and by night, 
on different sides. At a given signal, they simultaneously broke 
their earthen vessels, displayed their lamps, and blew a loud 
blast with their trumpets. The tremendous noise with which 
the Midianites were awakened, and the numerous lights all 
around, conveyed to their confused senses the notion that they 
were surrounded by a mighty host ; and, in the darkness, every 
one taking his neighbour for an enemy, they slew each other 
by thousands. One hundred and twenty thousand men were 
left dead upon the field of battle, and only 15,000 saved them- 
selves by flight. . The Israelites who shrunk from the war join- 
ed in the pursuit, and hasted to share the spoil. Gideon dis- 
played the talents of one fit to govern men, by the tact with 
which he soothed the jealous pride of the Ephraimites, who 
complained that they had not been called into action, and by 
the spirit with which he punished the men of Succoth and Pen- 
uel, who had refused refreshment to his men, and had derided 
his enterprise. 

4. In the height of their admiration and gratitude, the peo- 
ple offered to make Gideon king, and to entail the crown upon 
his race. But he was too well acquainted with the govern- 
ment under which they had been placed by God, to listen to a 
proposal like this. He therefore replied, “ Not I, nor my son, 
but Jehovah shall reign over you.” But this great man was 
not equally alive to the religious obligations of the covenant ; 
for with the produce of the golden ear-rings taken from the Mid- 
ianites, which were willingly given to him by the army, he 
made an ephod, or priest’s dress, and appears to have formed a 
sacerdotal establishment in his own town, where sacrifices 
might be regularly offered. However well intended, this was 
a gross interference with the Tabernacle establishment at Shi- 
loh, and in the end proved a snare to Gideon’s own family, and 
an occasion for idolatry to the nation (Judges viii.) 

5. Gideon lived forly years after his great victory ; and in his 
time the peace ol Israel does not seem to have been again seri- 
ously disturbed. The parable of Jotham seems to intimate, that 
after, o$ perhaps even before his death, the offer of the crown 
had been repeated to his sons, of whom he had, by his several 
wives,* seventy that were legitimate. But they having nobly 
refused the tempting offer, his spurious son Abimelech succeed- 
ed in persuading the people of Shechem to proclaim him king, 
and to put to death all the other sons of Gideon. Only Jotham, 
the youngest, escaped ; who afterwards from Mount Gerizim ad- 
ministered a cutting rebuke to the Shechemites, in the oldest and 
most beautiful apologue of antiquity, which represents the bram- 
ble as accepting that sovereignty over the trees which had sue- 


66 


JEPHTHAH DELIVERS ISRAEL. [b.c. 1198. 

cessively been declined by the olive-tree, the fig-tree, and the 
vine. Three years sufficed to disgust the Shechemites with the 
king they had set up. They revolted, in consequence of which 
their city was utterly destroyed by Abimelech, who then pro- 
ceeded to reduce another revolted town, Thebez, where he was 
killed by a stone thrown down upon him by a woman (Judges, 
ix;. 

6. The enemies from which Tola, of the tribe of Issachar, de- 
fended Israel, are not named ; and of Jair, the Gileadite, we 
only know that his thirty sons rode on white asses, as chiefs of 
thirty small towns or villages in Gilead, which belonged to their 
opulent family. The administration of Tola lasted twenty- three 
years, and that of Jair twenty-two. 

7. After this, the Israelites fell into gross idolatry, in punish- 
ment for which their enemies were allowed to oppress them 
greatly. The Ammonites laid claim to a part of the land be- 
yond Jordan, which had been wrested from them by the Amo- 
rites, from whom it was conquered by Moses. For eighteen 
years they greatly distressed the two aud half tribes beyond Jor- 
dan, and likewise made incursions into Benjamin, Judah, and 
Ephraim, who had at the same time to defend themselves against 
the Philistines. In these troubles they cried to God, whom they 
had so grievously insulted ; and as they gave signs of repen- 
tance, he delayed not to send them deliverance. 

8. Jephthah, the deliverer raised up on this occasion, was an 

illegitimate son, by “ a strange woman,” of one Gilead, a person 
of some note in Manasseh, beyond Jordan. He had no claim to 
share with his brethren in their patrimony ; and, on the death of 
their father, was excluded with some harshness from the pater- 
nal home, and became a wanderer and exile. A number of men 
of like broken fortune and unsettled dispositions, joined them- 
selves to him, and they lived upon the prey which they acquired 
by harassing the Ammonites and other enemies of Israel. In 
this kind of predatory warfare, they became skilful, hardy, and 
bold ; and the name of Jephthah wes celebrated beyond Jordan 
as that of a valiant and successful leader. When, therefore, 
the tribes were encouraged to hope for deliverance, their eyes 
turned to him, and a deputation was sent to invite him to take 
the command in the war against the Ammonites. After some 
demur, he accepted the invitation, and repaired to Mizpeh of 
Gilead, where his appointment was solemnly ratified. His first 
act was to send an embassy to demand of the Ammonites why 
they invaded the territories of Israel. In reply, they advanced 
the claim of prior occupation, which has been mentioned ; to 
which J ephthah answered, that whoever were the prior occupants, 
the country belonged to Israel by right of conquest from the 
Amontes. Jepthah then went forth to the war, but in depart- 
ing, rashly vowed to devote in sacrifice to God whatever came 
forth to meet him on his return triumphant. In the issue the 
Ammonites were defeated with great slaughter, and completely 
subdued. * 


SAMSON BORN. 


67 


b. c. 1155.] 

9. Jephthah had only one child, a virgin daughter, beautiful 
and young ; and she it was who, on his return to Mizpeh, came 
forth, at the head of the maidens, to greet him with timbrels and 
dances. The warrior remembered then the irreversible vow 
which he had taken, and rent his clothes in the anguish of his 
soul. When apprised of her doom, the heroic daughter encour- 
aged her father to observe his vow : but whether by shedding 
her blood in sacrifice, or by devoting her to a secluded and soli- 
tary life, is a point not well determined, and on which different 
opinions are entertained. 

10. The Ephraimites, envying the splendid success of their 
brethren in this war, and the valuable booty which they had 
gained, stirred up a civil war, which terminated very disastrously 
for them, for they were defeated with the loss of 42,000 men. 
Jephthah died, after an administration of six years. 

11. The Judges, — Ibzan of Bethlehem, who governed seven 
years; Elon of Zebulon, ten years; and Abdon of Ephraim, 
eight years ; in all, twenty-five years, — appear to have main- 
tained peace. But during this time the Israelites again relapsed 
into gross idolatry, and drew on themselves a rigorous bondage 
to their western foes the Philistines, who had now become a 
powerful people. This servitude lasted forty years; during 
which, whatever general government existed, appears to have 
been exercised by Eli the high-priest (B. C. 1157.) 


CHAPTER Y. B. C. 1155 to 1117. 


PALESTINE. 

B. C. 

Samson born, . . . 1155 
Samson’s exploits from 1137 to 1117 
Samson’s death, . . 1117 


EGYPT. 


Remeses VIII. 



B. C. 

1155 

Remeses IX. 

# 

m 

1140 

Remeses X. . 

• 


1125 


1. Samson was the next deliverer, or rather avenger, — for, as 
his countrymen had become too weak and too spiritless to second 
his efforts, he was only able to “ begin to deliver Israel,” and to 
molest the Philistines in transient and desultory attacks. Sam- 
son was a very extraordinary man in bodily endowments, indo- 
mitable courage, and tremendous strength ; but very feeble in 
his moral and intellectual character. His parents were of the 
tribe of Dan. An angel announced his birth and declared his 
vocation to his mother ; and directed that the abstinence and un- 
shorn hair of a Nazarite should distinguish him from his birth. 
These were to be the signs of the covenant by which he held 


68 SAMSON’S EXPLOITS. [b. c. 1137. 

his gigantic powers, and on which their continuance was to de- 
pend. 

2. In early manhood, Samson became enamoured of a damsel 
of the Philistine town of Timnath, and persuaded his parents 
to go and ask her in marriage for him. On the way, he en- 
countered a lion, and without weapons, tore it asunder as if it 
had been a kid : but he did not deem the exploit worth relating, 
even to his parents. The offer of marriage was accepted ; and 
after a while, Samson again went to Timnath, to celebrate the 
nuptials and bring home the bride. On the way, he turned aside 
to see what had become of the lion ; and he found a swarm of 
bees in the dried frame-work of skin and bones which was left, 
after jackals (probably) had devoured the flesh. This furnished 
the subject of the riddle which, according to the custom of 
these times, he proposed to the guests at the marriage-feast — 
“ Out of the eater came forth meat, and out of the fierce came 
forth sweetness.” Not being able to solve the riddle, the guests 
secretly induced Samson’s wife, by threats, to extract the secret 
from him and reveal it to them. Indignant at his wife for be- 
traying his secret, and at the guests for tampering with her, 
Samson left her and went home, after he had slain thirty Phi- 
listines of Askelon, and given their garments, as his forfeit, to 
the guests. 

3. After his anger had subsided, he went to visit his wife, 
with a present of a kid ; but he found her married to his friend, 
who had been his bridesman at the wedding. On this and other 
occasions, he allowed his private wrongs to stimulate him to 
the exercise of his vindictive mission, which otherwise he ap- 
pears to have been much disposed to neglect. Fired by the 
present insult, he vowed and took severe revenge. Collecting 
three hundred foxes, he tied them together by the tails, in pairs ; 
and then putting a firebrand between every pair, he turned them 
into the standing com of the Philistines, which was burnt with 
fire, along with the shocks of corn, and the vineyards and olive 
grounds. The Philistines laid the blame upon Samson's wife 
and her father, and came and burnt them both with fire ; but 
this cruel action was soon after punished by Samson with so 
great a slaughter, that he deemed it prudent to withdraw to the 
top of the almost inaccessible rock Etam, in the tribe of Judah. 
Determined to secure so implacable an enemy, the Philistines 
went in great force against him: but being unable to reach him 
in this position, they required the Judahites to yield him up. 
More disposed to dread the consequences of Samson’s feats than 
to glory in them, three thousand men of Judah went to seize their 
hero, and deliver him up in bonds to the Philistines. He did 
not resist — and when the enemies and masters of Israel beheld 
their redoubted antagonist brought to them as a captive, they 
raised an exulting shout: but at that moment Samson burst 
asunder the new ropes with which he was bound, as if they had 
been burnt tow, and seizing the jaw-bone of an ass that lay 


DEATH OF SAMPSON. 


69 


B. C. 1117,] 

near, he fell upon the Philistines, and routed them with the 
slaughter of a thousand. After this feat, which he very pro- 
perly felt to be “ a great deliverance which God had given to 
him,” Samson, ready to perish with intense thirst, called upon 
God for relief; and immediately water rose from a hollow 
place close by, which ever after remained a perennial spring. 

4. We next find this very strong yet erring man in the house 
of a harlot, in the Philistine city of Gaza. When his arrival 
was known, the gates of the city were shut, and a guard set, to 
prevent his escape. But he arose in the night, and not only 
burst open, but rent away the gates, carried them off, posts and 
all, upon his shoulders, and left them upon a hill on the road 
to Hebron. 

5. Another harlot, named Delilah, dwelling in the vale of 
Sorek, proved his ruin. Tempted by the rich bribes of the Phi- 
listine lords, Delilah endeavoured to extract from Samson the se- 
cret of his strength, for it was known that it was in something 
more than bone and sinews that he differed from other men. 
After some attempts to amuse her, Samson, tired by her impor- 
tunities, at length told her that his strength lay in his hair, as 
the sign of his devotement, and of the covenant by which he 
held his powers. While he slept upon her lap, she made the 
seven locks of his hair be cut off ; and instantly the covenant 
with God being broken, the strength of Samson departed from 
him, and he became weak as other men. The Philistines took 
him without difficulty, put out his eyes, and carried him to 
Gaza, where he was bound with fetters of brass, and put to a 
slave’s labour in the prison-house. Blind and in prison, Sam- 
son had leisure to repent that he had trifled so lightly with the 
gift of God: and with his repentance and the growth of his hair, 
it pleased God to renew his strength. At this time the Philis- 
tines held a high day of festival and thanksgiving, to praise 
their god Dagon for having delivered their greatest enemy into 
their hands ; and Samson himself was brought from the prison, 
that the assembled people might behold their wretched victim, 
triumph in his misery, and make sport of his blindness. W ea- 
ried at length, the fallen champion applied to the lad who led 
him by the hand, to let him lean for rest upon the two pillars 
which chiefly supported the roof of the building, upon which 
three thousand people were at that time assembled to see the 
spectacle and celebrate the feast. Their impious rejoicing in 
their idol was so displeasing to God, that he granted the prayer 
of Samson, and endued him with such strength, that when, em- 
bracing the pillars, he bowed himself with all his might, they 
yielded to the vast force, and broke ; whereon the roof, with the 
mass of people upon it, fell in, and buried in the ruins Samson 
and the multitude below. At his death, Samson slew a great- 
er number of the Philistines than he had done during his life. 
(Judges, xvi. 4—31). 

6. The precise effect of this event upon the relative position 


SAMUEL EORN. 


70 


[b. c. Ii49. 


of the Israelites and the Philistines does not appear. But a 
blow which struck down the flower of the Philistine nation was 
not likely to be inoperative ; and it may be inferred from subse- 
quent circumstances, that the Philistines were too much dis- 
couraged to maintain their hold upon the Hebrew nation. 


CHAPTER VI. 


PALESTINE. 

B. C. 

Samuel born, . . 1149 
Samuel called to be 
a prophet, . . 1137 
Commencement of 
20 years’ servitude 
to the Philistines, 1127 
Convention at Miz- 
peh, and Samuel 
Judge . . . 1107 
Defeat of the Philis- 
tines, ... 1107 

End of Samuel’s (12 
years) separate 
administration, 1095 


EGYPT. 

B. C. 

RemesesXI. . 1110 


EVENTS— PERSONS. 

B. C. 

Return of the He- 
raclid.se into Pe- 
loponessus, . . 1104 
Which they divide 
among them- 
selves, . . . 1102 

Kingdom of Lace- 
daemon commen- 
ces, • - - . 1102 


1. As Samson did not appear to have exercised any authority, 
civil or military, even in the southern portions of Palestine ad- 
joining the Philistine territory, to which his operations were con- 
fined, he might be described as a scourge of the Philistines rather 
than a Judge of Israel. Without doubt, the civil government, as 
far as any existed in such disorderly times, was directed by the 
high priest, — which office, during a portion of Samson's time, 
appears to have been held by Eli, although, for chronological 
purposes, his administration is^aid to begin where the history 
of Samson ends. Eli judged Israel for forty years after the 
death of Samson. In the course of his administration, Hannah, 
the wife of Elkanah, a Levite, who had been barren, and on 
that account much insulted by another wife of Elkanah, who 
was fruitful, in her distress prayed to the Lord to give her a son, 
and vowed that if her suit were granted, she would dedicate 
that son as a Nazarite to the Lord all the days of his life. The 
petition was heard, and she called her son Samuel, signifying 
“ heard, 1 ’ or “ given of God.” In accordance with the vow of 
special dedication, the child had no sooner reached a proper age 
than he was taken to the tabernacle at Shiloh, and left there 
under the care of Eli, who soon became much attached to him, 
and, as he grew up, employed him in personal attendance on 
himself, and in various services about the tabernacle. 


SAMUEL CALLED. 


71 


B. C.1137.J 

2. Eli himself was descended from Ithamar, the second son of 
Aaron, and appears to have been the first high-priest of the 
younger branch of the family. W e know not on what occasion 
the elder branch, descended from Eleazer, had been set aside. 
Eli was a pious man, but of too easy and mild a disposition for 
his high situation. His gentle rebukes had therefore very little 
effect upon his two sons, Hophni and Phineas, who proved so 
degenerate that they were guilty of the grossest excesses and 
most criminal abuses of their priestly office and hence the pre- 
sentation of offerings and sacrifices became disagreeable and 
hateful to all the people. Although sensible of their bad con- 
duct, Eli did not interpose his authority to put a stop to it. 

3. Thus matters proceeded until the boy Samuel had attained 
the age of twelve years, when he was called by night, in a very 
remarkable way, to the prophetic office. On that occasion the 
destruction and deposition of Eli’s house were denounced, on 
account of the iniquities of his sons and his own criminal neg- 
lect, — “ because his sons made themselves vile, and he restrained 
them not.” Samuel could not conceal this revelation from Eli. 
The aged pontiff, in conformity with the usual passive piety of 
his character, answered meekly, “ It is the Lord : let him do 
what seemeth to him good !” From that time forward Samuel 
was favoured with frequent communications from God. The 
youth also conducted himself with so much propriety and dis- 
cretion, that the people generally looked to him with affection 
and confidence, as appointed of God to an office which appears 
for a long time to have been intermitted. 

4. Ten years after the call of Samuel, the Israelites, without 
the consent or authority of their Divine king, whom they ought 
to have consulted, embarked in an ill-considered war with the 
Philistines. Being defeated in the first engagement with the 
loss of 4000 men, they had the presumption to send for the ark 
of God, out of the tabernacle, that they might fight under its 
protection. It was borne to the wars by Hophni and Phineas 
with other priests ; and its arrival filled the Philistines with 
dread, as they identified it with the presence of “ the mighty 
God, that smote the Egyptians with all the plagues.” Yet they 
encouraged one another to fight manfully to save themselves 
from such bondage as that in which they had held the Israelites. 
Again they were victorious : 30,000 men of Israel fell in the 
battle ; Hophni and Phineas were slain ; and the ark of the cov- 
enant was taken. Eli, now blind with age, and his heart trem- 
bling for the ark of God, sat watching by the way side for the 
first news of the battle. He soon heard the disastrous tidings, 
and when the messenger announced that “ the ark of God was 
taken,” he fell off his seat, and, being heavy and old, his neck 
was broken by the la.ll. 

5. The Philistines conveyed the ark to Ashdod, and placed it 
in the temple of Dagon their god, whose idol bore a figure half 
fish and half man. $y this they perhaps intended to shew that 


72 


samuel’s administration. 


[b. c. 1095. 

their god had triumphed over the God whom the Hebrews wor- 
shipped. But He, always jealous of His glory, delayed not to 
vindicate it on this occasion. On successive nights, the image 
of Dagon was found thrice to have fallen prostrate before the ark, 
and the third time it was broken in pieces. He also smote the 
Philistines with a grievous disease, and with swarms of field- 
mice which marred the land ; and they were at length compel- 
led to appease the wrath of the God of Israel, by trespass-offer- 
ings expressive of the plagues with which they had been visited. 
These were five golden mice, and five golden emerods, which 
they put in a coffer beside the ark. They then set the ark on a 
new car, drawn by milch cows taken from their calves, which, 
without guidance, took the right road to the land of Israel, and 
stopped at Bethshemesh, a city of the priests in the tribe of Ju- 
dah. The restored ark, which had been seven months among 
the Philistines, was received with great joy by the people ; but 
this was soon turned into mourning, for not fewer than 50,070 
men were struck with sudden death for presuming to look into 
the ark. This made the men of Bethshemesh as much afraid as 
the Philistines had been to have the ark any longer among x 
them, and they invited the inhabitants of the neighbouring town 
of Kirjath-jearim to send and take it to themselves. They did 
so, and deposited it in the house of Abinadab, “ upon the hill,” 
who set apart his son Eleazer to take care of it. There it re- 
mained for eighty-two years, or until the tenth year of the reign 
of king David. 

6. Notwithstanding these signal events, the Israelites, who 
remained in subjection to the Philistines, continued careless of 
the obligations of the covenant, and negligent of the worship of 
God. The exertions of Samuel, however, in the course of time, 
brought them round to a better state of feeling ; and after twenty 
years, they were disposed to return to their allegiance to their 
Divine king. Having, therefore, put aside all their strange gods, 
they held a solemn feast of humiliation for their sins at Mizpeh 
in Benjamin, and there poured out water before the Lord in 
token of their grief. Samuel, who was then formally recognis- 
ed as judge over Israel, earnestly interceded for them, and im- 
plored deliverance from the Philistines, who had taken alarm at 
this large assemblage, and were then advancing to disperse 
them. This prayer was answered by a thunder-storm so tre- 
mendous and so entirely unexpected at that season of the year, 
as struck such terror and amazement into the Philistines, that 
they were easily put to flight, and were pursued and smitten by 
the Israelites. The consequences of this victory relieved them 
from the yoke of the Philistines, who were obliged to restore 
the places taken from Israel, and were not in a condition to give 
any further disturbance during Samuel’s administration. 

7. The prophet-judge administered the government with great 
ability and care ; and perhaps made the office of the judge in 
time of peace, more efficient than it had ever been before. For 


*73 


B. C* 1095.] THE ISRAELITES DESIRE A KINO* 

the regular administration of justice, he took an annual circuit 
through the land to Bethel, Gilgal, Mezpeh (in Gilgal), and Ra- 
mah, which last was the place of his usual residence. At that 
place he erected an altar for sacrifice ; and this was doubtless 
by special order or permission, as otherwise it would have been 
contrary to the letter and spirit of the law. Besides, the ark, 
that most sacred symbol of the Divine Presence, was not then 
in the tabernacle, and the spot destined for its final resting-place 
was not yet known. 

8. At length Samuel, growing “ old and greyheaded,” appoint- 
ed his sons Joel and Abiah to act as his deputies in the southern 
district of Palestine. They accordingly settled their residence at 
Beer-sheba ; but, in their management of affairs, they proved as 
unlike their father as Eli’s sons had been unlike him. Greedy 
of gain, and careful only how to turn their public employment 
to their own private advantage, “ they took bribes, and pervert- 
ed judgment.” 


BOOK IV* * 

CHAPTER I. B. C. 1095 to 1091. 


PALESTINE. 

B. C. 

The Israelites desire a king — 

Saul appointed, . . 1095 

Saul defeats the Ammonites, 1095 
War with the Philistines, 1093 
Saul’s first offence, . . 1093 

Jonathan’s exploit at Mich- 
mash, .... 1091 


EGYPT. 

B. C. 

Amun*mai-Panee, * . 1095 


1 . The misconduct of Samuel’s sons, his own advanced age, 
and the seemingly unsettled state in which the government 
would be left at his death, were the ostensible grounds on which 
the elders of Israel proceeded in resolving to demand such a 
change in the government as would give them a human king, 
“ to rule them like the nations.” Every nation must have some 
great central principle on which it can unite as one community. 
This was particularly necessary in a nation, which, like that of 
Israel, had a strongly marked sectional division into tribes, 
whose interests were not always in agreement. Now, this prin- 
ciple had been very efficiently established and very beautifully 
supplied by the theocracy, with its invisible but ever-present Di- 
O 


74 


THE ISRAELITES DESIRE A KING. [b. C. 1095. 

i 

vine King, and the sacred symbols and services. But the right 
working of this constitution depended on a continued obedience 
in the people, which they had not manifested, and an apprecia- 
tion of the system, of which they seem to have been scarcely 
capable. In short, the principle of this form of government was 
too refined for them ; and, notwithstanding its very numerous 
concessions to their weakness, they too often failed to compre- 
hend it as their principle, and to act up to its requirements. 
Hence arose internal disorders and confusions, which, although 
really owing to the short-comings of the people, yet seemed in 
some degree imputable to the practical inefficiency of the cen- 
tral principle, and created the desire for something less sublime 
and remote,— something visible, tangible, common, — suited to 
the apprehensions of an unintellectual people. Hence the de- 
mand for a king, and for the forms and institutions of a human 
monarchy, which might form a more sensible state-principle 
than the theocracy offered. 

2. When the elders made their application for this great 
change in the government to Samuel at Ramah, they found him 
strongly opposed to their wish. With becoming dignity, he vin- 
dicated the purity of his own administration, and challenged any 
one to charge him with corruption or wrong ; he reminded them 
that they had already a King, whose power and resources were 
illimitable, and under whom obedience only was necessary to 
render their welfare secure ; he placed before them, in the most 
vivid manner, the exactions and services to which they would 
be subject under human kings, and from which they were now 
so happily exempt ; and, in short, it was his desire that they 
should rather strive to bring the national character up to the re- 
quirements of their present state-principle, than bring down the 
principle to a lower standard of character. But the elders had 
made up their minds on the subject, and persisted in their de- 
mand. As, therefore, the demand was made in a becoming 
manner, which referred the whole matter to the Lord through 
his prophet ; as Moses had foreseen and provided for such a con- 
tingency ; and as it was more than probable, that, in their pre- 
sent temper, the people would set up a King for themselves, un- 
less indulged in their wish, Samuel was at length authorized to 
yield to their desire, although under a protest. 

3. We have now, therefore, to contemplate a new phase 
of the Jewish history, in which the government was not a pure 
theocracy, nor a simple monarchy, but a combination of the two. 
The Lord was still the Supreme King ; and the human monarch 
was to be appointed by him, and the line of succession determin- 
ed or changed at his pleasure. The king was to wield the or- 
dinary administrative powers of royalty, and its signs and sym- 
bols of dignity and honour ; but his real position was that of a 
vice-king,— the minister, regent, dr representative of the Divine 
King, whose counsel was to be sought, through the sacred ora- 
cles, on all occasions of importance, and whose directions, when 


SAUL APPOINTED KING. 


75 


B.C. 1095.] 

given, were to be implicitly followed by the sovereign. I^must, 
therefore, be understood, that the responsibility of the Hebrew 
kings to the Lord, was not merely the responsibility under 
which every one is placed to God for the exercise of the powers 
with which he is endowed ; but also the more immediate and 
particular responsibility of a delegated or representative ruler to 
the supreme king of the state which he governs. This was the 
theory of the Hebrew monarchy, as, by anticipation, it had been 
settled long before by Moses (De,ut. xvii. 14-20) ; and we shall 
find in the sequel that the character of the kings, whether good 
or bad, was determined by their observance or neglect of these 
fundamental principles. The kings themselves were but too 
much disposed to forget the fact of their dependence upon the 
Invisible King. 

4. Saul, the son of Kish, of the tribe of Benjamin, had wan- 
dered about for three days seeking the strayed asses of his fa- 
ther. Fatigued with the unsuccessful search, he was disposed 
to abandon it and return home, when, finding himself near Ra- 
mah, where Samuel lived, he resolved to consult one who was 
renowned in all Israel as a man from whom nothing was hid. 
Instructed in the Divine designs regarding Saul, the prophet re- 
ceived him with honour. He assured him that the asses which 
he had sought were already found, and invited him to stay with 
him until the next morning. Saul was in fact the man on 
whom the Divine appointment to be the first king of Israel had 
fallen. A hint of this high destiny, produced from the aston- 
ished stranger a modest declaration of his insufficiency. But the 
prophet gave him the place of honour before all the persons 
whom — foreknowing the time of his arrival — he had invited to 
his table. As is still usual in summer, Saul slept on the flat 
roof of the house ; and was called early in the morning by Sam- 
uel, who walked forth some way with him on his return home. 
When they had got beyond the town, they stopped, and Samuel 
then anointed Saul as the person whom God had chosen to be 
“ captain over his inheritance and gave him the first kiss of 
civil homage. In token of the reality of these things, and to 
assure the mind of the bewildered young man, the prophet fore- 
told the incidents of his homeward journey, and, in parting, de- 
sired his attendance on the seventh day following at Gilgal. 

5. On the day and at the place appointed, Samuel assembled 
a general convocation of the tribes for the election of a king. 
As usual, under the theocracy, the choice of God was manifest- 
ed by the sacred lot. The tribe of Benjamin was chosen ; and 
of the families of Benjamin, that of Matri was taken ; and, final- 
ly, the lot fell upon the person of Saul, the son of Kish. An- 
ticipating this result, he had modestly concealed himself, to 
avoid an honour which he so little desired. But he was found, 
and brought before the people, who beheld with admiration his 
comely and dignified person, — for he stood taller, by the head 
and shoulders, than any of the people. Qualifications so obvious 


76 SAUL DEFEATS THE AMMONITES. [b. C. 1095 

procured a willing recognition of the king offered to them, by 
the great body of the people. Many persons in the great tribes, 
however, were dissatisfied that the election had vested the roy- 
alty over Israel in the smallest of the tribes, and in a person of 
so little consequence, even in that tribe, as Saul. They there- 
fore held proudly aloof, and the new king was allowed to return, 
with a very humble attendance, to his home in Gibeah. Saul, 
although sensible of the neglect, wisely “ held his peace” for the 
time ; and it ultimately appeared that the different tribes could 
more readily unite around a monarch in his neutral position, 
than if a member of one of the more powerful tribes had been 
chosen. Judah would have been reluctant to submit to a king 
of Ephraim, and the proud and fiery Ephraimltes would not 
willingly have received a king from Judah. Perhaps, therefore, 
the choice which appears so strange at the first view, was the 
only one by which a civil war could have been averted. 

6. Soon after these things, the Ammonites, under their king 
Nahash, took the field, on the other side of the Jordan, and laid 
siege to the important town of Jabesh-Gilead. Being forced to 
capitulate, the inhabitants could obtain no better terms than 
that every man should have his right eye put out. To this 
hard condition they agreed, unless relief should come within 
seven days. Messengers were immediately despatched to Saul, 
who had contentedly resumed his usual avocations in Gibeah, 
and, when the tidings were brought to him, was returning quiet- 
ly from the fields with his herd. Instantly the spirit of a king 
was roused within him ; and he felt the duties, and claimed the 
powers, of the Lord’s anointed. He imperatively summoned the' 
warriors to his standard ; and speedily found himself at the head 
of a very large force, with which he crossed the Jordan, and 
by a forced march arrived before Jabesh, in time to save the in- 
habitants from their enemies, who were defeated with great 
slaughter. This splendid achievement manifested in Saul the 
qualities which, in these times, were most sought for in a king, 
and raised him so high in the estimation of the people, that 
Samuel deemed it proper to call another assembly at Gilgal, to 
confirm him in the kingdom. Here those who had hitherto 
manifested discontent, were obliged by the force of popular opin- 
ion, to join in a general and more formal recognition of the new 
king. It was then that Saul began really to reign. 

7. Of the large force which had been collected, Saul retained 
only three thousand men, with whom he proposed to make war 
upon the Philistines, who held in possession many strong places 
in the south, and kept the neighbouring inhabitants in such sub- 
jection that they had been deprived of their weapons, and could 
not even get their implements of husbandry sharpened without 
going to the Philistine garrisons. Hence, in all the force, Saul 
and his eldest son, Jonathan, were the only persons who pos- 
sessed a sword or a spear. The operations against the Philis- 
tines were commenced by Jonathan, who, with the thousand 


77 


b. c. 1091.] Jonathan’s exploit at michmash. 

men whom his father had placed under his command, cut oft 
the Philistine garrison of Geba. Interpreting this as a declara- 
tion of war, the Philistines delayed not to bring into the field a 
vast force, which comprehended six thousand horsemen and 
three thousand chariots of war. Saul, on his part, had sum- 
moned all the tribes to send their levies to Gilgal. This they 
did in sufficient numbers ; but while they remained there wait- 
ing for Samuel, who had appointed to come and offer sacrifices, 
great numbers of the men slunk away, being appalled at the 
formidable aspect of the Philistine army. Saul was confessedly 
in a difficult position, and his obedience to the principle of the 
theocracy was severely tested. It failed ; for, becoming impa- 
tient at the delay of Samuel, he called for the victims, and him- 
self offered the sacrifices. By this act he not only seemed to 
make a claim to exercise the priestly office, as kings did in 
other countries, but gave indications of the dispositions which 
in the end proved his ruin. He was a brave and able comman- 
der ; but he too often forgot that, in his political capacity, he 
was but the vassel of the Divine king ; and he did not always 
execute the orders he received, but made exceptions according 
to his own views. Just as the sacrifices had been offered, Sam- 
uel arrived, and strongly testified the Divine displeasure at this 
disobedience, which he declared had manifested the unfitness 
of Saul to be the founder of a race of kings. He then quitted 
the camp : and Saul, hiding his concern, numbered his force, 
which he found dwindled away to six hundred men. Not dar- 
ing to encounter the Philistine host with this handful of men, 
he marched with them to his own town of Gibeah. 

8. The main body of the Philistines remained at Michmash ; 
but they frequently sallied out in parties, and ravaged the coun- 
try without opposition. At length a bold plan was formed by 
Jonathan, who communicated it only to his armour-bearer, and 
the two secretly withdrew themselves from the camp. They 
fpund means to ascend a steep cliff, where the enemy least of 
all expected an attack ; and early in the morning they fell upon 
the advanced guards of the Philistines. Some were slain by 
the sword, and the others thrown into such consternation, that 
they slew one another, mistaking friends for foes. As soon as 
Saul got intelligence of what had happened, he took advantage 
of the confusion into which they were already thrown, and fell 
upon the Philistines with such fury, that they were soon utter- 
ly routed. That the pursuit of the enemy might not be retard- 
ed, Saul, in the heat of the chase, proclaimed death to any one 
who should taste food before the night. Ignorant of this, Jon- 
athan, happening to taste some wild honey, had well nigh fal- 
len a sacrifice to the rash vow of his father, but was saved by 
the interposition of the people. 


78 


CHAPTER II. B. C. 1095 to 1050. 


PALESTINE. 

B. C. 

War with the Ama 
lekites, . . . 1085 
Saul’s second of- 
fence and rejec- 
tion, .... 1079 
David born, . . 1079 

David anointed, . 1070 
David slays Goliah,1065 
David marries Mi- 
chal, .... 1060 
David’s first flight 
to Gath, &c. . .1059 


EGYPT. 

Amun-meses? froml080 
to about 1068, after 
which the succession 
is doubtful for ninety 
years. 


EVENTS AND PERSONS. 

B. C. 

Latinus, fifth king 
of the Latins, . 1080 
Kingdom of Athens 
ends with Codrus, 1070 
Medon, the first Ar- 
chon of Athens, 1070 


1. Several following years were distinguished by successful 
warfare with the enemies of Israel, — with Moab and Ammon 
in the east, with Edom in the south, with the Philistines in the 
west, and with the Syrian kings of Zobah in the north. At 
length, in the tenth or eleventh year of his reign, Saul received 
orders, through Samuel, to execute the Lord’s “ fierce wrath” 
upon the Amalekites, who had formerly been doomed to utter 
extermination for opposing the Israelites when they came out 
of Egypt. The result of the war put it fully in the king’s 
power to fulfil his commission ; but he thought proper to retain 
the best of the cattle as booty, and brought back the Amalekite 
king Agag as a prisoner. Here again Saul ventured to use his 
own discretion where his commission left him none. For this 
the Divine decree, excluding his descendants from the throne, 
was again and irrevocably pronounced by Samuel, who met him 
at Gilgal on his return. The stern prophet then directed the 
Amalekite king to be brought forth and slain by the sword, 
after which he departed to his own home, and went no more 
to see Saul to the day of his death, though he ceased not to 
bemoan his misconduct and the forfeiture it had incurred. But, 
during the years in which Samuel mourned for Saul, the king 
himself seemed increasing in strength and power ; he became 
respected at home and feared abroad ; while the many virtues 
of his excellent son Jonathan, who was greatly beloved by the 
people, seemed to render his dynasty secure. Saul himself, 
however, seems to have had sad misgivings on this subject, and 
we may perhaps impute to the constant brooding of his mind 
upon the doom pronounced by the prophet, those fits of morbid 
melancholy into which he frequently fell. His general temper, 
at the same time, became sour, irritable, and sanguinary. 

2. At length, about the twenty-fifth year of Saul’s reign, 
Samuel received the Divine mandate, to take measures for 


DAVID SLAYS GOLIAH. 


79 


b. c. 1065.] 

anointing the person whom the Lord had chosen to displace the 
race of Saul in the throne of Israel. For this purpose he was 
to proceed to Bethlehem, and there anoint one of the sons of a 
man named Jesse. This was a delicate commission, which, 
if known, might, as the prophet apprehended, induce Saul to 
slay him ; and he therefore veiled it under the form of a public 
sacrifice. The prophet appears to have made known his real 
purpose only to Jesse, who caused all his sons to pass before 
him, when they were rejected, one after another, until the 
youngest, David, was sent for from the fields, where lie was 
with the sheep. This youth, then about fifteen years of age, 
was the destined king ; and Samuel anointed him as such in the 
midst of his elder brethren, who, as well as himself, were pro- 
bably kept in ignorance of the purport of this act. Samuel 
returned to his own home, and David continued to tend his 
father’s flock. David was not more distinguished by the come- 
liness of his person than by his accomplishments and valour ; 
he was skilled in music and poetical composition, and he had, 
without weapons, slain a lion and a bear which attacked his 
flock. 

3. Meanwhile, the king’s fits of melancholy madness went 
on increasing in frequency and duration, and no” cure was found 
for his diseased mind. At length, some person who had ob- 
served that Saul was much affected by music, suggested that 
the soothing powers of the harp should be tried ; and another 
then recommended “ the son of Jesse” as an accomplished mas- 
ter of that instrument, and withal, a man of valour. Saul 
therefore delayed not to send to Jesse, commanding him to send 
his son to court. Little thinking that in him he beheld his 
successor on the throne, Saul received the youthful minstrel 
with favour. When the fits came upon him, David played 
on the harp, and under its soothing strains his mind soon re- 
covered its usual tone. This service, together with his other 
engaging qualities, and his discreet behaviour, won the heart 
of the king, who conferred upon him the distinguished and con- 
fidential post of his armour-bearer. 

4. Since their last great discomfiture, the Philistines had 
recruited their strength, and in the thirtieth year of Saul’s 
reign, and the twentieth of David’s life, they again took the 
field against the Israelites. It curiously illustrates the nature 
of warfare in those times to find that the presence, in the army 
of the Philistines, of one enormous giant about nine or ten feet 
high, filled them with confidence, and struck the Israelites with 
dread. Attended by his armour-bearer, and clad in complete 
mail, with weapons to match his huge bulk, the giant, whose 
name was Goliah, presented himself daily between the two 
armies, and, with insulting language, defied the Israelites to 
produce a champion who, by single combat, might decide the 
quarrel between the nations. This was repeated many days ; 
but no Israelite was found bold enough to accept the challenge. 


80 


DAVID MARRIES MICHAL. 


[b. c. 1060. 

At length David, no longer able to endure the taunts and blas- 
phemies of Goliah, offered himself for the combat. The king, 
contrasting the bulk and known prowess of the giant with the 
youth and inexperience of Jesse’s son, dissuaded him from the 
enterprize. But as David expressed his strong confidence 
that the God of Israel, who had delivered him from the lion 
and the bear when he tended his father’s flock, would also de- 
liver him from the proud Philistine, Saul at length allowed him 
to go forth against Goliah. Refusing all armour of proof and 
weapons of common warfare, David advanced to the combat, 
armed only with his shepherd’s sling and a few smooth peb- 
bles picked up from the brook which flowed through the valley. 
The astonished giant felt insulted at such an opponent, and 
poured forth such horrid threats as might have appalled any one 
less strong in faith than the son of Jesse. But as he strode for- 
ward to meet David, the latter slung one of his smooth stones 
with so sure an aim and so strong an arm, that it smote his op- 
ponent in the middle of the forehead and brought him to the 
ground. 

5. The king lost no time in following up this blow, and 
attacked the astonished Philistines with such vigour that they 
immediately gave way, and were defeated with tremendous 
slaughter. Triumphant was the return of Saul ; but it mortified 
his pride to perceive that David was on all hands regarded as 
the hero of the day: and when the damsels made this the bur- 
den of their triumphal song, — “ Saul has slain his thousands, 
and David his ten thousands !” he could not conceal his resent- 
ment that the honours of victory should be thus proportioned. 
From a fretful expression which he let fall, it seems more than 
likely that he then first suspected that David was “ the man 
after God’s own heart,” to whom his throne was to be given. 
His inquiries probably confirmed this impression, and thence- 
forth he lost no opportunity of exposing David to disgrace and 
danger. But all the schemes laid for his ruin served only to 
make more prominent David’s valour in the field, and the wis- 
dom and generosity of his general conduct. Finding that the 
honours which were designed as snares for him, — including that 
of giving him his daughter Michal in marriage, — really exalted 
David, Saul could no longer confine his dark passions to his 
own bosom, but charged his son Jonathan and others to take 
some opportunity of destroying the son of Jesse for him. He 
little suspected that a most tender friendship, “passing the 
love of women,” had grown up between Jonathan and David. 
To Jonathan, in particular, was this celebrated friendship highly 
honourable ; for it was not unknown to him that the son of 
Jesse was destined to exclude himself and his children from the 
throne of Israel. But with a generosity of feeling, of which 
there is scarcely another example, he cheerfully acquiesced in 
the superior claims of David, and was the most ardent admirer 
of his person and character. He could even find pleasure in 


david’s flight. 


b. c. 1059.] 


SI 


picturing the time when David should sit upon the throne, and 
when he should himself be next to him in place, as nearest to 
him in love, and find him the guardian and protector of the very 
children whom narrow minds might have suspected to be in the 
utmost danger from his claims. 

6. On the present occasion Jonathan gave his friend timely 
notice of danger, and spoke so forcibly to his father, that his 
better feelings overcame his insane horror of David, and he 
promised to make no further attempt upon his life. But soon 
after this, David, having commanded an expedition against the 
Philistines, so distinguished himself as to increase the admira- 
tion of the people and to revive the hatred of Saul. When he 
resumed his place at court, and was one day playing on his harp 
to soothe the perturbed spirit of the king, he narrowly escaped 
death from a javelin which Saul threw with the intention of 
pinning him to the wall. He then withdrew to his own house, 
where he was followed by men whom the king sent to despatch 
him. But they were amused and deceived by David’s wife Mi- 
chal, Saul’s own daughter, while her husband was let down 
from the window in a basket and made his escape to Samuel at 
Hamah. Repeated attempts to take him thence or slay him 
there, the last of which was made by the king, in person, were 
defeated by the special interposition of Providence. But Saul, 
brooding gloomily over his doom, still cherished his cruel pur- 
pose against him ; and on one occasion he even threw hiis jave- 
lin at Jonathan for speaking in favour of his absent friend. This 
being made known to David, he resolved, after a private inter- 
view and tender parting with Jonathan, to withdraw himself 
effectually from the designs upon his life by retiring to a foreign 
land. For this purpose he made choice of Gath, one of the five 
Philistine states. In this choice he was probably guided by the 
consideration that the Philistines, from their enmity to Saul, 
were less likely than any other neighbouring nation to give him 
up at the demand of the king. 

7. The tabernacle had by this time been removed from Shi- 
loh to Nob, in the tribe of Benjamin ; and David, with his few 
followers, called there on his way, and procured from the high- 
priest, ^himelech, a supply of provisions and the only weapon 
in his possession, — the sword which David himself had taken 
from Goliah, and which had been laid up in the tabernaele as a 
trophy of that victory. This assistance David obtained under 
the unjustifiable pretence of being on a private mission from the 
king. He then proceeded to Gath ; but finding that the Philis- 
tines cherished revengeful recollections of his former exploits 
against them, he feigned himself mad, and by that means escap- 
ed their resentment. 

8. David then left the country of the Philistines and repaired 
to the wild district of Adullam, in the tribe of Judah. Here 
there was a large and not easily accessible cave, which formed 
an excellent shelter for himself, and the men of broken fortunes 


82 


david’s wanderings. 


[b. c. 1059. 

ami reckless character, about four hundred in number, who re- 
sorted to him, and of whom he became the captain. 

9. From Aduliam David went to the land of Moab for the 
purpose of placing his parents in safety there, lest they should 
become exposed to the blind fury by which Saul was now ani- 
mated. He was perhaps inclined to remain there himself; but 
it was of importance that his dangers and conduct should keep 
him in the view of his admiring countrymen, and a prophet w .s 
therefore sent to command his return to the land of Judah, de 
obeyed, and found refuge in the forest of Hareth. 


CHAPTER III, B, C, 1059 to 1055. 


PALESTINE. 


B. C. 

David’s wanderings, . 1059 to 1054 
Death of Samuel, .... 1057 

David’s second flight to Gath, 1055 


b. c. 

Saul’s third offence, . . . 1055 

Saul defeated and slain by the 
Philistines, 1055 


1. The mind of Saul was of too coarse a mould to understand 
that it was possible for David to know his high destinies, and 
yet abide God’s own time, without taking any questionable 
measures to advance them. He persuaded himself that David 
had organized an extensive conspiracy against his life and gov- 
ernment ; he suspected every one about him of being engaged 
in this conspiracy, and believed that his son Jonathan had been 
drawn into it. lie was in a most sanguinary mood, and craved 
for some objects on which to wreak his fury. Unhappily, such 
objects were found in the high-priest and others of the sacerdotal 
order. One Doeg, an Edomite in the employment of Saul, had 
been present at Nob when David was there; and he gave an 
exaggerated report of the assistance which Ahimelech had given 
to the fugitive. On hearing this, Saul sent for the pontiff, and 
the rest of the priests then at Nob, and, accusing them of trai- 
torous practices, ordered them to be slain. His guards refused 
this barbarous office ; but Doeg and other strangers executed the 
king’s order without compunction. Eighty-five of the priestly 
race perished: nor did this satisfy the sanguinary king, for he 
sent to Nob, ordering man, woman, child, and every living 
creature, to be put to the sword. None escaped but Abiathar ; 
and he fled to David, who was greatly shocked at the tidings 
which he bore. Thus another and almost final step was taken 
in the completion of that doom which had many years before 
been pronounced upon the house of Eli. This, however, was 
no excuse for Saul, whose tenderness towards the Amalekites, 


DEATH OF SAMUEL. 


b. c. 1059.] 


83 


whom he was commanded to destroy, is strikingly contrasted 
with his shocking immolation of the priests of God. 

2. Meanwhile, David found an opportunity of employing his 
troop for the benefit of his country, by relieving the town 
of Keilah from the incursions of the Philistines. He then 
entered that town ; which Saul no sooner heard, than he march- 
ed to lay siege to it. But David, being informed by the sacred 
oracle, which Abiathar, who acted as his priest, consulted for 
him, that the inhabitants would deliver him up, withdrew into 
the wild country in the eastern part of Judah, towards the 
Dead Sea, and found refuge in the wilderness of Ziph. While 
he was there, Jonathan came to him privately, to encourage 
him to trust in God, and to renew their covenant of friendship 
and peace. This was the last time these devoted friends saw 
each other. 

3. Soon after this some ill-disposed persons of the neighbour- 
hood went to Gibeah, and acquainted Saul with the place of 
David’s retreat. The king immediately marched thither with 
a sufficient force ; but David, being warned of his approach, re- 
treated southward into the wilderness of Maon, before his ar- 
rival. Saul followed him thither ; and was close upon him, 
when he was providentially called off to repel an unexpected 
incursion of the Philistines. Here, being one day weary, the 
king withdrew into a cave to take some rest. In the provi-’ 
dence of God, it happened that this was the very cave in whose 
interior recesses David and his men lay concealed ; and whilst 
Saul slept, David advanced softly and cut off the skirt of his robe. 
When the king went out of the cave, David followed him at 
some distance, and at length called to him, and displayed the 
skirt in evidence of his innocence. Saul could not but feel that 
the man who had taken the skirt could quite as easily have 
taken his life ; and struck by this magnanimity, his stern heart 
war for the time subdued. “ Is that thy voice, my son David ? ,; 
he cried, and then he wept. He acknowledged that he had 
been foolish and criminal ; he admitted that the son of Jesse was 
worthy of the destinies which awaited him; and he exacted from 
him a promise, that when he became king he would not root out 
the family of his predecessor, as eastern kings were wont to do. 
Saul then withdrew: but David had too little confidence in his 
good resolutions to make any alteration in his own position. 

4. The death of Samuel took place shortly after this, in the 
ninety-second year of his age. He appears to have retained his 
judicial authority, even after Saul became king: and he was 
much and deservedly lamented by the people before whom he 
had acted a public part from his very cradle, with equal credit 
to himself and benefit to his country. Soon afterwards, David 
retreated southward into the desert of Paran. The shepherds 
of southern Israel led their flocks into these distant pastures in 
the proper season; and the presence of David and his men, at 
this time, effectually protected them from the Bedouin tribes, 


84 


david’s second flight to gath. [b. c. 1055 . 

by which they were in general much molested. Afterwards 
returning to the wilderness of Maon, David heard that a rich 
sheep-master, called Nabal, with whose shepherds his men had 
been very friendly in the desert, was making great preparations 
for the entertainment of his people during the shearing of his 
numerous flocks of sheep. David being in great want of pro- 
visions, sent a respectful message to solicit a supply from him. 
Nabal, who was of a churlish disposition, refused the applica- 
tion with insult ; at which ungracious return for the protection 
which had been given to his flocks in the desert, David was so 
much enraged, that he hastily determined to inflict a severer 
punishment than the occasion warranted, by bearing fire and 
sword to the homestead of the brutish sheep-master. 

5. Some such resolution was anticipated by the shepherds 
who had been out in the desert ; but the execution of it was 
prevented by the prudent conduct of Abigail, the wife of Na- 
bal, a very excellent -and beautiful woman, whom David mar- 
ried after Nabal’s death. Here it is right to mention, that after 
David fled from court, Saul, to wound him in the tenderest point, 
obliged his daughter, Michal, the first wife of David, to marry 
another husband. 

6. David again retreated into the wilderness of Ziph, which 
coming to the knowledge of Saul, he, notwithstanding his re- 
cent convictions, again went in search of him with 3000 men. 
While the King of Israel lay encamped and surrounded by his 
troops, during the darkness and stillness of the night, and when 
all were fast asleep, David, accompanied by Abishai, penetrated, 
undiscovered, to the place where the monarch lay, and took away 
the spear which was stuck in the ground near his head, and the 
cruse of water which stood by his side. In the morning, he 
called to the king from the hill-side, and displayed these mani- 
fest tokens that the king’s life had been completely in his pow- 
er. His remonstrance was attended with the same result as 
on the former occasion. Saul was deeply affected, and, hav- 
ing acknowledged that he had acted “ foolishly,” returned to 
Gibeah. 

7. The strong faith by which David had been hitherto sus- 
tained, now began in some degree to give way under these con- 
tinued persecutions; and apprehending that, if he remained any 
longer in the country, he should one day perish by the hand of 
Saul, he resolved again to seek refuge with the Philistines of 
Gath. This very questionable step brought him into dangers 
quite as imminent as those from which he fled, and involved 
him in much insincere conduct which cannot be contemplated 
without pain. Achish, the king of Gath, received him and his 
men with pleasure, because he calculated that persons so per- 
secuted by Saul, would render effectual service in the war 
against him, for which the Philistine states were then making 
preparations. After being for some time hospitably entertained 
&t Gath, the King gave to David the border town of Ziklag, that 


85 


B. C. 1055.] SAUL AND THE WITCH OF ENDOR. 

he and his men might dwell there with their families and pos- 
sessions. While at this place, David employed his men from 
time to time in expeditions against the Amalekites and other 
nations of the south ; and by the spoil thus acquired his men 
were greatly enriched. But, as these nations were friends and 
allies of the Philistines, he led Achish to believe that his ope- 
rations were directed against his own countrymen the Israelites, 
which gave the king of Gath great satisfaction, — in the belief 
that by thus making himself abhorred in Israel, he had rooted 
himself in the service of the Philistines. This duplicity, how- 
ever, soon brought its own punishment : for, when the Philistines 
were ready for the war against Saul, David found that no ground 
was left him on which he could decline the invitation of Achish, 
to go with him against Israel. He was only saved from his 
difficulty by the jealousy of the princes of the other Philistine 
states, who, justly suspecting the sincerity of his alleged enmity 
against his own people, compelled Achish to send him back to 
Ziklag. On his return, David found that the Amalekites had 
taken advantage of his absence to burn and pillage the place, 
and had carried away as captive ail the people, chiefly women 
and children, who had been left there. He immediately pur- 
sued after them, and having at length overtaken them, when 
they deemed themselves in safety, cut them in pieces, and not 
only recovered all that they had taken, but obtained a valuable 
prey, which they had collected in other places, and out of which 
he sent valuable gifts to his friends in Judah. 

8. Meanwhile the Philistine army continued its march into 
the land of Israel, and penetrated to the eastern part of the 
great battle-field of Esdraelon ; by which time Saul had form- 
ed an opposing camp on the mountains of Gilboa. When he 
beheld the vast force which the Philistine states had, by a 
mighty effort, brought into the field, dire misgiving as to the 
result arose in his mind; and now, at last, in this extremity, he 
sought counsel of God. But the Lord answered him not by any 
of (he usual means, — by dreams, by TJrim, or by prophets. 
Finding himself thus forsaken, he had recourse to a witch At 
Endor, not far from Gilboa, to whom he repaired by night in 
disguise, and conjured her to evoke the spirit of Samuel that he 
might ask counsel of him in this fearful emergency. Accord- 
ingly, an aged and mantled figure arose, which Saul took to be 
the ghost of Samuel, though whether it were really so or not 
has been much questioned. The king bowed himself reverent- 
ly, and told the reason for which he had called him from the 
dead. The figure, in reply, told him that God had taken the 
crown from his house, and given it to a worthier man ; that, on 
the next day, the Philistines would triumph (jver Israel ; and 
that he and his sons should be slain in the battle. The king 
swooned at these heavy tidings, but soon recovered ; and hav- 
ing taken some refreshment, returned the same night to the 
camp. 


DEATH OF SAUL. 


86 


b. c. 1055.] 

9. The next morning the two armies engaged, when the Isra- 
elites gave way before the Philistines, and maintained a running 
fight until they had fallen back upon Mount Gilboa, from which 
they had advanced to meet the enemy. Here they attempted to 
rally, but in vain: Jonathan and two other of Saul’s sons were 
killed, and the army were thrown into complete disorder. At 
length Saul himself was desperately wounded ; and fearing that 
he would fall into the hands of the enemy, and be ignominiously 
treated by them, he prayed his armour-bearer to thrust him 
through ; and when that faithful follower refused, he took his 
own sword, fell upon, it and died. This example was followed 
by the armour-bearer. 

10. The next morning, when the Philistines went over the 
field of battle, they found the bodies of Saul and his sons. They 
cut off their heads, and sent them, with their armour, into Phi- 
listia as trophies of their victory ; and the bodies were shame- 
fully gibbetted upon the walls of the neighbouring town of Beth- 
shan, near the Jordan. But the people of Jabesh Gilead, on the 
other side of the river, mindful of their ancient obligation to 
their king, went over by night and stole away the bodies, which 
they burned, and then buried the remains under a tree. 

11. Three days after his return to Ziklag, the news of this ac- 
tion and its results were first brought to David by an Amalekite. 
This man, in roaming over the field of battle, had found the 
body of Saul, which he divested of the royal diadem and amu- 
lets, and, in expectation of great rewards, hastened with them 
to David, whose appointment to the throne appears to have been 
by this time well known not only to the Israelites but to their 
neighbours. To enhance his claims of reward, he pretended 
that the wounded king had fallen by his hand. But he grie- 
vously misunderstood the character of David, who rent his 
clothes in bitter affliction, and ordered the Amalekite to be slain 
for laying his hands upon “ the Lord’s anointed.” David then 
poured forth his grief for Israel, for Saul, and for Jonathan, his 
friend, in one of the most beautiful elegiac odes to be found in 
any language. 


87 


CHAPTER IV. B. C. 1055 to 1034. 


B. c. 

David begins to reign over Ju- 
dah in Hebron, . . 1055 

Abner sets up Ishbosheth, son 
of Saul, as king, . . 1055 

Abner comes over to David, and 
is assassinated by Joab, 1048 

Ishbosheth assassinated, . 1047 

David becomes king of all Is- 
rael, .... 1047 

Takes the fortress of Jebus in 
Jerusalem, . . . 1046 


b. c. 

Removes the Ark of the Cove- 
nant to Jerusalem, . 1045 

Designs to build a temple, but 
is told to leave that work for 
his son, .... 1040 

Sin in the matter of Bathsheba 
and Uriah, . • . 1035 

Is reproved by Nathan, and re- 
pents, .... 1034 


1. Saul being- dead, David inquired of God what course he 
should take, and was directed to repair to Hebron, the principal 
town in the tribe of Judah. At that place the men of Judah 
publicly anointed him as their king. But through the able 
management of Abner, a near relative of the late king, and the 
chief commander of his forces, the other tribes acknowledged 
Ishbosheth, the only surviving son of Saul, whose residence was 
fixed at Mahanaim, eastward of the Jordan. For two years no 
hostile acts took place between the two kingdoms ; but, at the 
end of that time, war was commenced by Abner, with the view 
of bringing Judah under obedience to the house of Saul. To 
oppose him David sent Joab, his sister’s son, who, with his bro- ~ 
thers Abishai and the swift-footed Asahel, had been amongst his 
most active and devoted followers in all his wanderings. The 
most remarkable action in this war took place at Gibeon, where 
the forces of Abner were defeated and put to flight. Abner be- 
ing closely pursued by Asahel, and having in vain entreated him 
to desist, smote him dead with his spear. At length a number 
of Benjaminites rallied under Abner, and faced the pursuers, 
when the opposing tribes came to a parley; and Joab, being 
persuaded by Abner to prevent the further effusion of kindred 
blood, drew off his forces, and went home. In most of the oth- 
er actions of this war David had the advantage, and his interest 
in the nation daily increased, while that of Ishbosheth declined. 

2. One so able and experienced as Abner could not but appre- 
ciate the final result ; and being stimulated by a personal dis- 
pute with Ishbosheth, he resolved to withdraw from him, and 
give to David that support by which the house of Saul was up- 
held. Having obtained authority from the other tribes to treat 
with David, he repaired to Hebron, and was there received and 
entertained with all honour and respect ; and after having con- 
ferred with the king, withdrew, with the intention of complet- 
ing the transaction. Joab just then returned from a military 
expedition, and being informed of what had taken place, he be- 


DAVID TAKES JEBTJS. 


[b. c. 1046. 

came jealous that such a man as Abner would soon supplant 
him with David ; and professing to believe that the whole was 
a snare laid by Abner, he reproached the king, in no very mea- 
sured terms, for the reception he had given him. He also burn- 
ed to avenge the death of his brother, which, indeed, the popu- 
lar ideas connected with “ blood-revenge,” imposed upon him 
as a duty. He therefore despatched a messenger to recall Ab- 
ner, in the king’s name, to Hebron. He met him at the gate 
of the town, and drawing him aside, as if to speak with him 
privately, treacherously stabbed him. This was likely to have 
the very worst effect upon the pending negociations. David, by 
the abhorrence he expressed at this cruel and treacherous deed, 
by his lamentations, and by a magnificent funeral, in which he 
appeared himself as a mourner, evidenced that he had no part 
in the murder; and of this the people were satisfied. But the 
influence of Joab with the soldiers was too great to allow the 
king, at that time, to inflict on him the punishment he deserved. 
The loss of Abner rendered the condition of Ishbosheth utterly 
hopeless ; and not long after, two of his officers, expecting great 
rewards from David, murdered him in his bed, and hastened 
with his head to Hebron. But no sooner had David heard their 
boastful confession, and seen the head of his rival, than, with 
great indignation, he condemned the assassins to an ignomini- 
ous death, for the crime by which they had hoped to win his 
favour. 

3. The tribes now looked upon David as the man who had 
been specially nominated by the Divine Head of their theocracy, 
and as one whose military services in the time of Saul entitled 
him more than any living man to the distinction, unanimously 
offered him the crown. Having accepted the offer, with condi- 
tions annexed to it, David was, in the presence of the elders of 
all the tribes, anointed a second time at Hebron, and proclaimed 
king over all Israel. He* had then reigned seven and a half 
years as king of Judah only. 

4. The resources of united Israel being now at his disposal, 
David turned his attention to such military enterprises as might 
consolidate and extend his empire. His first act was to gain 
possession of the fortress which was still held by the Jebusites 
in Mount Zion. This fortress being deemed impregnable, the 
attempt to take it was derided by the Jebusites. It was, how- 
ever, carried by storm, under the conduct of Joah, who was in 
consequence appointed captain-general of the forces of the whole 
kingdom, as he had been before of those of Judah. David then 
made Jerusalem the metropolis of his kingdom, and fixed his re- 
sidence upon Mount Zion. His success in accomplishing what 
for many ages had resisted all the efforts of the Israelites, seem- 
ed a most auspicious commencement of David’s reign, and even 
attracted the attention of foreigners. Hiram, king of Tyre, sent 
ambassadors to congratulate him on his accession to the throne, 
and enter into a league with him. As. the Phoenicians were well 


B. C. 1040.] DAVID DESIGNS TO BUILD A TEMPLE. 


skilled in the fine and useful arts, David was glad to avail him- 
self of their assistance in building a palace in the captured city. 

5. The Philistines regarded with apprehension the increasing 
prosperity of the Israelites; and to keep it in check, invaded 
the south with a large army. They had some success at first, 
David not being prepared to meet them in the field; but when 
he had collected his forces, he gave them battle, and discom- 
fited them so completely in two different engagements, that 
they were never again able to give any serious disturbance to 
Israel. 

6. Having now a respite from war, David formed the design 
of removing to his new capital the ark of the covenant, which 
had so long remained in obscurity at Kirjath-jearim. A vast 
company of priests and Levites, chiefs and elders, from all parts 
of the land, attended at this important solemnity ; and nume- 
rous instruments of music sounded in harmony with the glad 
feelings of the people. But, through ignorance or inadvertence, 
the ark, which should' have been borne by priests, was put upon 
a car drawn by oxen. On the way the animals stumbled, and 
Uzzah, the son of Abinadab, put forth his hand to support the 
tottering ark, for which he was struck dead upon the spot, none 
but priests being allowed to touch it on pain of death (Numb, 
iv. Jo). This threw a damp over the whole proceeding; and 
David, being afraid to take the ark farther, left it in the care of 
Obed-edom, a Levite, whose house was near at hand. This 
person experienced the Divine favour and blessing in a very re- 
markable manner, during the three months the ark remained 
under his roof. The news of this encouraged David to resume 
his original design, which he did with the more confidence, as 
he had taken care to acquaint himself with the prescribed ob- 
servances for the orderly removal of the ark. It was accord- 
ingly removed with great pomp and ceremony, and deposited in 
a tabernacle which David had provided for it. 

7. About five years after, when the king was inhabiting his 
house of cedar, and God had given him rest from all his ene- 
mies, he meditated the design of building a temple in which 
the ark of God might be placed, instead of being deposited 
“ within curtains,” or in a tent, as hitherto. This design was 
at first encouraged by the prophet Nathan ; but he was after- 
wards instructed to tell David that this work was less appro- 
priate for him, who had been a warrior from his youth, and had 
shed much blood, than for his son, who should enjoy in pros- 
perity and peace the rewards of his father’s victories. Never- 
theless, the design itself was highly approved as a token of 
proper feelings ; and for this, and for his faithful .allegiance to 
the Supreme King of Israel, it was promised that the sceptre 
should be perpetuated in his family. To this was added an 
intimation — sufficiently intelligible to him, and which filled 
him with joy — that the long-promised Messiah, the Anointed of 
God, should be numbered among his descendants. To David 


90 


DAVID AND BATHSHEBA. 


[b. c. 1035 

this was an honour greater than his crown ; and in very beauti- 
ful and elegant language he expressed his adoration and grati- 
tude. Since he was himself precluded from building the temple, 
it became an object of interest to him, during the rest of his 
life, to provide the materials for it, and to form arrangements 
and lay down rules for the more imposing and orderly celebra- 
tion of the ritual worship which the law had prescribed. He 
divided the priests and Levites, who had become very numerous, 
into bands, and fixed a regular rotation of service. Music, 
instrumental and vocal, was also introduced by him into the 
sacred services. A great number of the sacred songs to be used 
in these services were composed by himself. These are to this 
day preserved to us in the Book of Psalms. 

8. The next measures of David were calculated, if not de- 
signed, to give a peaceable and prosperous reign to his successor, 
by subduing or weakening all the neighbouring powers likely to 
disturb his repose. In successive campaigns he completed the 
reduction of the Philistines, and took possession of Gath and its 
towns, using them as barrier towns for Judah ; he utterly sub- 
dued the Moabites, and dismantled all their strongholds ; he 
cleared his eastern frontier to the Euphrates, and made the 
Syrians of Zobah and Damascus tributary, and brought the 
Edomites under the like subjection, after he had defeated them 
with great slaughter in the valley of Salt. From all these 
wars, which appear to have occupied about three years, he 
returned to Jerusalem with rich spoils, which he laid up for 
the use of the future temple. To the same use he applied the 
presents which he received from foreign kings, whose attention 
was drawn to his victories, and who deemed it expedient to 
propitiate so great a conqueror. 

9. The Scriptures describe David as “ a man after God’s own 
heart.” By this we are not to understand that David always 
acted rightly, or that God approved of all he did. Its meaning 
is, that, in his public capacity, as king of Israel, he acted in 
accordance with the true theory of the theocratical government ; 
was always alive to his dependence on the Supreme King ; took 
his own true place in the system, and aspired to no other ; and 
conducted all his undertakings with reference to the Supreme 
Will. He constantly calls himself “ the servant (or vassal) of 
Jehovah: and that, and no other, was the true place for the 
human king of Israel to fill. In thus limiting the description 
of David as “ a man after God’s own heart,” it is not necessary 
for us to vindicate all his acts, or to uphold him as an immacu- 
late character, which he was very far from being. The basis 

of his character, and the general tone of his conduct, was good, 

was better than we usually find among men. But the same 
ardent temperament which* sometimes betrayed his judgment 
in his public acts, led him into great errors and crimes ; it also 
made him the first to discover his lapse, and the last to forgive 
himself. Who can depict the sins of David in stronger language 


91 


B. C. 1034.] DAVID REPROVED BY NATHAN. 

than he does himself ? Who was ever more submissive to 
punishment, or more convinced of his unworthiness to receive 
forgiveness and consolation ? 

10. We find him engaged in a war with the Ammonites, in 
the 18th year of his reign, to avenge the insulting treatment 
which his ambassadors had received from their king. The 
conduct of this war David intrusted to Joab, and remained him- 
self at Jerusalem. There, while sauntering upon the roof of 
his palace, after the noon-day sleep which is usual in the East, 
he perceived a woman whose great beauty attracted his regard. 
She proved to be Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah, an officer of 
Canaanitish origin, then absent with the army besieging Kab- 
bah, the capital of Ammon. David sent for her, and, under the 
influence of criminal passion, became an adulterer. This first 
crime was followed by a greater ; for, to cover his own sin, and 
to save the woman from the doom of an adulteress, he sent for 
Uriah to Jerusalem. Having heard from him the particulars 
of the war which he pretended to require, the king dismissed 
him to his own home. But Uriah, considering that it ill be- 
came a soldier to seek his bed while his companions lay on the 
hard ground, under the canopy of heaven, exposed to all the 
attacks of the enemy, remained all night in the hall of the 
palace with the guards, and returned to the wars without hav- 
ing seen Bathsheba. This cost him his life ; for David, seeing 
no other way to prevent the consequences he apprehended, 
made him the bearer of an order to Joab to expose him to cer- 
tain death in some perilous enterprise against the enemy. He 
was obeyed by that unscrupulous general ; and when David 
heard that Uriah was dead, he sent for Bathsheba and made 
her his wife. He had already several wives, as was customary 
in those times ; and among them was Miclial, whom he had 
long ago reclaimed from the man to whom she had been given 
by Saul. 

11. David thought that all was now safe ; but he was much 
mistaken. The prophet Nathan was sent to him, and by a fic- 
titious tale of oppression applicable to the case, (2 Sam. xii. 

1 — 4,) so kindled the anger of David, that he not only sentenced 
the supposed offender to restore fourfold, according to the law, 
but condemned the criminal to death. Instantly the prophet 
exclaimed — “ Thou art the man !” and proceeded, in the name 
of the Lord, to rebuke him for his heinous transgression, and 
to announce the punishments which it became his justice to 
inflict. 

12. No sooner were the eyes of David thus opened, than he 
instantly confessed his crimes with great humility and contri- 
tion, and submitted himself to the chastisements of God. This 
•becoming repentance averted the sentence of death from him- 
self, but it was transferred to th£ offspring of his crime, then 
newly born. To mark the divine displeasure against sin, the 
yest of David’s life was full of troubles from his children, three 


92 


Absalom’s vengeance on amnon. [b. c. 1030. 

more of whom died untimely deaths ; thus, in some sense, com- 
pleting a fourfold retaliation for the murder of Uriah. 

13. The war with the Ammonites was successful. Rabbah, 
the metropolis, which was the last to yield, was taken ; and 
the people generally were so completely subjected, that David 
put them to hard labour and servile employments in the fields, 
woods, and brick-kilns. Among the spoils was the very costly 
crown of the king, which David appropriated to his own use, 
and wore on state occasions. 


CHAPTER V. B. C. 1034 to 1 015. 


PALESTINE. 

B. C. 

Solomon born, . . . 1033 

Absalom’s vengeance on Amnon, 1030 
Absalom recalled, . . . 1027 

His rebellion and death, . . 1023 

David numbers the people, . 1017 

Rehoboam born, . . . 1015 

Adonij ah’s rebellion, . . 1015 

Solomon proclaimed king, . 1015 

David dies, .... 1015 


EVENTS AND PERSONS. 

B. C. 

Medon, king of Argos, . 1030 

AJ ba, fifth king of the Latins, 1029 
Archippus, third archon of 
Athens, . . . 1014 

Hiram, long of Tyre, 


1. The threatened troubles in the house of David were not 
long in breaking out. Amnon, his eldest son, dishonoured his 
half-sister Tamar, who was the full sister of Absalom. This 
injury excited in the mind of Absalom a resentment which only 
blood could satisfy. He said nothing for a time. But after two 
years (B. C. 1030), when all seemed to be forgotten, he invited 
all the royal family to a feast with which he celebrated the 
shearing of his sheep. Amnon was among the guests ; and at 
a given signal from their master, he was set upon and murdered 
by the servants of Absalom. On this, all the others mounted 
their mules and fled in haste to Jerusalem ; while Absalom 
himself lost no time in seeking refuge at the court of his ma- 
ternal grandfather, Talmai, king of Geshur. He remained there 
three years ; for although David, after the first burst of indigna- 
tion and grief, would have been willing to recall him, he was 
prevented by the dread of public opinion and the demands of 
justice. At the end of three years (B. C. 1027), however, the 
king, through the contrivance and intercession of Joab, was in- 
duced “ to call home his banished but a regard for appear- 
ances excluded Absalom from the presence of his father until 
two years after his return to Jerusalem. 

2 , Absalom was now the eldest living son of David, and in or- 


Absalom’s rebellion. 


93 


b. c. 1023.] 

dinary circumstances, might have been considered the heir-ap- 
parent to the throne. But it was already known to David, that 
Solomon, his eldest surviving son by Bathsheba (born in B. C. 
1033), was destined by God to be his successor. The Lord, as 
we have already seen, reserved the right of appointing whom 
he pleased to the crown, although in the absence of any spe- 
cial appointment, it was supposed to descend in the ordinary 
course of succession. It is more than probable that this destin- 
ation of the crown of David was known to Absalom, and that 
the attempt to secure it in his father’s lifetime was made with 
the design of averting his own exclusion. Had he been sure of 
succeeding when his father died, he would probably have wait- 
ed till then, for David was already old. At all events, he soon 
began to affect great state, and made much display of his chari- 
ots and guards, and appeared in public with a splendid retinue 
of fifty men. All this pomp the more enhanced the condescen- 
sion with which he behaved to the people, and the interest he 
took in the affairs of the suitors at the royal court. These acts 
of popularity, with his handsome person and engagingmanners, 
quite won the hearts of the undiscerning multitude ; and when 
at length he ventured to raise the standard of open rebellion, 
and to proclaim himself king, at Hebron, the people flocked to 
him in crowds, and David was nearly deserted, except by his 
guards and some faithful followers. Confounded at this intel- 
ligence, David abandoned Jerusalem in haste, to proceed to the 
country beyond Jordan, where the distance would allow him 
more time for collecting his resources and considering his course 
of action. Deeply humbled at what he .considered as the pun- 
ishment of God for his sins, David ascended the Mount of 
Olives, on the upper road to Jericho, as a mourner, weeping, 
barefoot, and with shrouded head. 

3. On his way David was deeply wounded by false intelli- 
gence of the ungrateful desertion of Mephibosheth, the son of 
Jonathan, whom, for his father’s sake, he had treated with 
much kindness and distinction, and to whom he had restored 
the lands of Saul. These lands he now too hastily bestowed 
on the treacherous informant, Ziba, who had managed them for 
Mephibosheth. When he afterwards discovered his error, and 
found it was only his lameness which prevented the son of his 
friend from following him, Ziba’s connections were too power- 
ful to allow him to revoke the grant entirely, and he directed 
that the land should be divided between them. Among the re- 
markable incidents of this mournful journey, was the abusive 
and insulting conduct of a man named Shimei, of the family 
of Saul, who manifested the most unseemly exultation at the 
forlorn condition of the king. Yet the chastened David would 
not allow his people to avenge this wrong. 

4. The fugitives rested themselves in “ the plains of the wil- 
derness;” but soon crossed the Jordan, in consequence of inform- 
ation that Absalom had been advised to pursue them with 12,000 


94 ? 


DAVID RETURNS TO JERUSALEM. [b. C. 1023 . 

men, and smite them before an army could be collected. This, 
in fact, was the best course which Absalom could have taken 
to complete his enterprise at one stroke. It was the advice of 
David’s chief councillor, a Ahithophel, who was renowned in 
all Israel for his sagacity, and whose desertion to Absalom 
seemed one of the most serious of the king’s disasters. Never- 
theless, Hushai, the friend of David, who had also found a place 
in the council of Absalom, contrived to get this advice rejected 
in favour of the very different course recommended by himself. 
Finding his counsel thus neglected, and foreseeing the conse- 
quences, the traitorous Ahithophel went home and hanged 
himself. 

5. Meanwhile David fixed his residence at Mahanaim, be- 
yond Jordan, where Ishbosheth had formerly held his court. 
When Absalom heard where he was, he followed him across 
the river, with a powerful army, under the direction of his cou- 
sin Amasa. David and his general had not been idle, but had 
collected a force, which, although small in comparison, seemed 
to men who trusted in the righteousness of their cause, suffi- 
cient for the contest. David divided his force into three bat- 
talions, and entrusted the command to Joab, Abishai, andlttai; 
for the trrops refused to allow him to risk his own valuable life 
in the battle. Still feeling all a father’s unreasoning love for 
his guilty son, the last words of David to his commanders 
charged them to respect the life of Absalom. This charge was 
but little regarded. The army of Absalom was defeated by the 
better disciplined troops of David, and the prince himself fled 
upon a swift mule ; but tis he passed under an oak, the long hair 
which he so carefully cherished became entangled in the pro- 
jecting boughs, from which he was left suspended. In this sit- 
uation he was found by Joab, who slew him on the spot. His 
death ended the war: the rebels dispersed, and went every 
man to his home. The king’s joy at the victory was greatly 
damped by the news of his son’s death. He shut himself in 
the chamber over the city gate ; and the returning warriors, who 
expected the reward of his presence and praise, heard only, as 
they entered, his loud and bitter lamentations for his lost Ab- 
salom. At length Joab went to him, and by representing the 
probably serious consequences of disgusting the troops by mak- 
ing them feel that their victory was a crime, he induced him 
to appear in public, and give his faithful soldiers the satisfac- 
tion they had earned. 

6. As the mass of the people had hailed Absalom as king, 
David with commendable delicacy, abstained from resuming 
the crown as a matter of right ; but resolved to tarry at Maha- 
naim until formally invited back by the tribes. The Israelites 
generally were, by this time, thoroughly ashamed of the rebel- 
lion, and quite ready to return to their allegiance. But the 
Want of unanimity among the tribes, and other circumstances, 
occasioned such delay, that Judah was the first to invite the 


SAUL’S SONS SLAIN. 


95 


B. c. 1023.] 

king to resume his throne at Jerusalem. He accordingly re- 
turned. This seems to have been a wrong step ; for the other 
tribes were offended that he had returned on the sole invitation 
of Judah, without their concurrence ; and at length the dissen- 
sion became so great, that the Israelites, as distinguished from 
the Judahites, refused to recognise the act or to acknowledge 
David as king ; and appointing one Sheba, of Benjamin, perhaps 
of Saul’s family, for their leader, they raised the standard of re- 
volt, with the usual cry of civil war — “ To your tents, 0 Israel !” 

7. David, partly with the view of conciliating those who had 
followed Absalom, appointed Amasa his commander in chief, in 
place of Joab. Him he now ordered out in pursuit of Sheba; 
but as he failed to assemble the forces of Judah within the lim- 
ited time, David, who dreaded delay, sent out Abishai with the 
royal guards. With this force Joab went as a volunteer.* While 
they rested at Gibeon, Amasa came up with the force which he 
had at length got together. As he came on, Joab advanced to 
meet him ; and under the cover of a friendly salute, gave him 
a mortal stab, as he had formerly given Abner. Having thus 
treacherously removed his rival, and confiding in the attach- 
ment of the troops he had so often led to victory, he assumed 
the chief command, and the soldiers readily, perhaps gladly, 
followed their former general. The fact that they had to deal 
with so experienced a commander as Joab, appears to have 
helped to discourage the partisans of Sheba, who finding him- 
self abandoned by the greater part of his followers, as Joab 
approached, deemed it expedient to withdraw his few remain- 
ing adherents into the fortified town of Abel-beth-maachah, in 
Naphtali. But when Joab appeared under the walls, the in- 
habitants to save themselves, threw over to him the rebel’s 
head; and the war being thus ended, Joab returned to Jerusa- 
lem. David detested his conduct, and was mortified at his pre- 
sumption ; but he dared not to call him to account for the mur- 
der of Amasa, or remove him from the place which he had as- 
sumed. 

8. After these things a famine of three years afflicted the 
people : and as the principles of the theocracy, guaranteed to 
the Israelites prosperity and plenty as long as they continued in 
obedience, every public calamity was justly regarded as a pun- 
ishment for sin. David, therefore, somewhat tardily sought to 
know the cause of this famine. He was told that, although so 
long after the event, it was a punishment for innocent blood 
which had been left unatoned, namely, the blood of the Gib- 
eonites whose safety Israel had guaranteed by a covenant of 
peace ; but who had been massacred by Saul, on some pretext 

* As these persons were all related to the king, it may be well to define 
the relationship. David had two sisters , Zeruiah and Abigail. Zeruiah was * 
the mother of Joab, Abishai, and Asahel .(whom Abner slew); and Abi- 
gail was the mother of Amasa. They were all therefore David’s nephews, 
and cousins of his sons. 1 Chron. ii. 13, 17. 


9 () DAVID NUMBERS THE PEOPLE. [b. C. 10 1 ?. 

or other, in considerable numbers. On learning this, David re- 
quired the remnant of the Gibeouites to name the expiation 
they required ; and they vindictively asked the death of seven 
of Saul’s descendants. The king could not gainsay them ; and 
accordingly two sons of Saul, by his concubine Rizpah, and the 
five sons of Merab his eldest daughter, were yielded up to them. 
Thus were all the descendants of Saul destroyed, except Me- 
phibosheth, the son of Jonathan, whom David had cherished, 
and now exempted for his father’s sake. The exposure of the 
bodies beyond the day of execution, which the G-ibeonites 
demanded, was contrary to the habits of the Israelites, and 
justly repugnant to their feelings. Rizpah, the pother 
of Saul’s sons, remained disconsolately night and day, 
watching the bodies of her children, to protect them from 
the birds and beasts of prey. When this came to David’s 
knowledge, he ordered the bodies to be taken down and deposit- 
ed, with the bones of Saul and Jonathan, in the family sepulchre. 

9. Now that the Israelites had been weakened by two re- 
bellions and by three years of famine, the Philistines deemed 
the opportunity favourable for trying to shake off the yoke 
which they had borne with much impatience. They therefore 
renewed the war, but were defeated in four engagements, and 
finally subdued. Among the Philistines were some families of 
gigantic stature, and in this campaign they brought several of 
G-oliah’s family into the field. One of them had nearly over- 
powered David ; but he was rescued, and the giant killed by 
Abishai. After this the people would never allow David to go 
to the wars in person, “lest he should quench the light of 
Israel.” 

10. The next year David, that he might know the real extent 
of his power, and that all competent Israelites should be enrolled 
for military service, ordered Joab to take a census of the adult 
male population. The schemes of enlarged dominion, with a 
view to which this census was probably ordered to be taken, 
were contrary to that divine policy which required Israel to re- 
main a compact and isolated people ; and the enrolment for such 
purposes seriously infringed the liberties of the nation. It also 
manifested great distrust of the Supreme King, who was known 
to be willing and able to give victory in every lawful enterprise, 
whether by many or by few. On these grounds the act was 
displeasing to God ; and it was distasteful even to Joab, who, 
after a vain remonstrance, proceeded to execute the order with 
great reluctance. The return which he made of men twenty 
years old and upwards, was 900,000 in the tribes of Israel, and 
400,000 in Judah alone — amounting mail to 1,300,000. By this 
we see that the population had more than doubled since the 
nation left Egypt and entered Palestine. The total numbers 
may be reckoned at considerably more than 5,000,000. When 
David received this account of the numbers of his people, “ his 
heart smote him,” and he became alive to the heinousness of 


B. c. 1015.] adonijah’s rebellion. 

his offence. At that moment the prophet Gad came commis- 
sioned to offer him the choice of three punishments: seven 
years of famine — three months of defeat and loss in war — or 
three days of pestilence. He chose the last ; and immediately 
the country was visited with a pestilence which in two days 
destroyed 70,000 men. David then vehemently interceded for 
his people, pleading that he alone had sinned, and praying that 
he and his might alone bear the punishment. His intercession 
prevailed, and the plague was stayed. 

11. The eldest surviving son of David was Adonijah, who 
resembled Absalom in comeliness and ambition. Provoked at 
the prospect of his younger brother Solomon being considered 
heir to the throne, he plotted to secure the throne before the 
king’s death, which his old age and feebleness showed to be 
near at hand. He gained over Joab and Abiathar the high- 
priest to his cause ; but the other high-priest,* Zadok, with the 
valiant Benaiah, the commander of the guards, and the great 
body of the “ worthies,” remained faithful to the cause of Solo- 
mon, and thereby evinced their adherence to the great principle 
of the government, — the supremacy of the Divine King, and his 
right to bestow the crown according to his pleasure. Having 
taken all the preliminary measures which seemed necessary, 
Adonijah invited his supporters to a splendid feast in one of the 
suburbs of Jerusalem, near the fountain of the king’s garden. 
Here he was proclaimed king, with great acclamation by his 
adherents. The news speedily reached the city, and was com- 
municated to the king by Bathsheba and the prophet Nathan. 
Now Adonijah was very dear to the heart of David ; and it is 
more than likely that, if left to his own feelings, he would have 
been willing that his eldest son should reign. But he was too 
much alive to the principle of the government to consider that 
he had any will in the majter, after the will of the Lord had 
been declared. He therefore immediately issued orders to Za- 
dok the priest, and to the officers of the court and army, to take 
Solomon, and anoint and proclaim him king. The prince was 
immediately mounted upon the king’s own mule, and escorted 
by all the court and the royal guards to the fountain of Gihon, 
where he was anointed by Zadok with the sacred oil ; when 
the trumpets sounded, and the assembled concourse rent the air 
with shouts of “ Long live King Solomon !” 

12. When Adonijah and his party heard of this prompt and 
decided procedure, they were struck with fear, and dispersed to 
their own homes. Adonijah himself fled to the altar, which 
was a sanctuary from which none but murderers could be taken. 

* Abiathar will be remembered as the son of Ahimelech, who fled to 
David after the massacre at Nob. He naturally succeeded as high priest ; 
but Saul gave that dignity to Zadok, lhereby restoring the pontificate to 
the older line of Eleazar. When David succeeded to both kingdoms, he 
was unwilling to remove either, and therefore gave them co-ordinate 
powers. 


98 


i)AVID t)IESi 


[b. c. 1015. 

Hearing of this, Solomon sent to tell him that his safety depend- 
ed upon his future conduct, and directed him to retire to his own 
house. Soon after, in a general assembly of the nation, the 
election of Solomon was ratified by the assent of the people ; 
and he was again solemnly anointed by the high-priest. On 
this occasion, David gathered up the remnant of his declining 
strength, and addressed the convention in a very forcible and 
touching harangue. He took pains to impress upon his audi- 
ence the true character of the government, and its peculiar sub- 
servience to the Divine King. He then adverted to the temple, 
which had been so long before his view ; mentioned his own 
extensive preparations for it ; urged them to assist Solomon with 
heart and hand in the great work which lay before him ; and 
recommended an adherence to the plans and models which he 
had provided. He concluded with a devout thanksgiving to 
the Lord for all his mercies to him and to the nation. Solomon 
then ascended the throne of his father ; and his accession was 
celebrated with feasting and sacrifices. 

13. On a subsequent occasion, David, feeling his end rapidly 
approaching, sent for Solomon, and earnestly impressed upon 
him the duty of obedience in all things to the Divine King. He 
had now done with life ; and gave it up, at the age of seventy 
years, of which he had reigned forty — seven as king of Judah 
only, and thirty-three as king of all Israel. Amid the lamenta- 
tions of all his people, the remains of David "v^ere deposited in 
a splendid tomb, which he had prepared for himself on Mount 
Zion. 


CHAPTER VI. B. C. 1015 to 97 5. 


Palestine. 

fc. c. 

Solomon king, . . . 1015 

Adonijah and Joab slain, . 1015 

Solomon weds an Egyptian 
princess, . . . 1013 

The foundation of the Temple 
laid, .... 1012 

The Temple finished, . 1005 

Solomon seduced to idolatry, 978 
Solomon dies — Rehoboam suc- 
ceeds, .... 975 

Revolt of the ten tribes, . 975 | 


GENERAL HISTORY. 

B. C. 

Archippus, 3d Archon of A- 
thens, .... 1014 

Theroippus, 4th Archon of 
Athens, .... 995 

Tadmor built, . . . 991 

City of Samos built, . . 986 

Shishak (Sheshonk I., Seson- 
chis), king of Egypt, . 981 


1. Solomon was nearly twenty years old when he began to 
reign. His natural talents were of the highest order, and had 
been improved by careful education ; he was endowed with pro- 


B. C. 1013.] SOLOMON WEDS AN EGYPTIAN PRINCESS. 99 

found sagacity, quick penetration, and great decision of charac- 
ter ; and no man ever possessed in a more eminent degree those 
collective talents and attainments to which the ancients gave 
the name of wisdom. He had not long ascended the throne 
when his sagacity detected the secret traitorous design which 
Adonijah still entertained. This prince had the adroitness to 
interest Bathsheba, the king’s mother, in a scheme which he 
had formed of espousing Abishag, one of the wives of the late 
king, whom Ije had taken in his latter days. No sooner was 
this named by Bathsheba to Solomon, than he recognized in 
the insidious demand a plan formed by Adonijah to accredit his 
old pretensions; and as this was a breach of the conditions on 
which his life had been spared, he ordered him to be slain. 
Abiathar appears to have had some part in this intrigue; on 
which account, as well as for his first defection, he was depos- 
ed from the joint high priesthood to the rank of a common 
priest, and ordered to withdraw to his town of Anathoth. — 
With some other persons, Solomon dealt according to the last 
instructions which his father had given him. Joab, when he 
heard what had been done to Adonijah and Abiathar, doubted 
not that his own death was determined, and therefore fled for 
refuge to the altar. But the altar was allowed to be no refuge 
to so old a murderer: he was torn thence, and put to the sword 
by order of the king. This was an act of astonishing vigour 
for so young a ruler, when we consider the influence of joab 
with the army, which had secured him complete impunity in 
the time of David The valiant Benaiah was appointed captain- 
general in his stead; and Zadok remained the sole high-priest 

2. Solomon was not unmindful of Shimei, the Benjamite 
who had cursed David and pelted him with stones when he 
fled from Absalom. David had not found it prudent to punish 
him ; but Solomon was not under the same restraint. He or- 
dered him to fix his residence in Jerusalem, and not to leave it 
on any occasion on pain of death. For a time he was attentive 
to this injunction ; but after two years he left the city, and went 
to Gath in pursuit of two runaway slaves, and was, on his re- 
turn, put to death. 

3. Through the conquests of his father and the wise measures 
which he hath' taken to consolidate his power, Solomon was 
a great king, especially when the extent of his dominion is 
compared with the small dimensions of kingdoms in these times. 
His dominions reached from the Mediterranean to the Euphra- 
tes, and from the Red Sea and Arabia, to the utmost Lebanon- 
The tributary states were held in complete subjection, and be- 
ing still governed by their native princes, made Solomon a “ king 
of kings.” The Canaanites who still remained in the land, had 
become peaceable and obedient subjects, or useful and labori- 
ous servants. His treasures also were immense, composed chief- 
ly of the spoils won from many nations by his victorious father, 
and treasured up by him for the very purpose of sustaining the 



Cedars ot Lebanon. 

4. During the time of David, in which the tabernacle and 
the ark had been separate from each other, an irregular 
practice had crept in of sacrificing to God and burning incense 
at other places than the tabernacle. The altars for these ser- 
vices were chiefly upon hills covered with trees, and were call- 
ed “ high places.” As this was also the practice of the sur- 
rounding heathens, it was very dangerous, and, in fact, paved 
the way for the idolatries into which the Israelites in after 


100 WISDOM OF SOLOMON. [B. C. 1013. 

magnificence and aggrandizing the kingdom of his son. Solo- 
mon sought for an alliance becoming his high estate, and found 
it in a marriage with the king of Egypt’s daughter. It was a 
proud thing for Israel that their king could in such a matter 
treat on terms of equality with the power which had in old 
times so long held them under the yoke. The Egyptian prin- 
cess was received with great magnificence : and Solomon lodg- 
ed her in “ the city of David” on Mount Zion, until he should 
build for her a superb palace. 


WISDOM OF SOLOMON. 


101 


b.c. 1013 .] 

times fell. It had been strictly prohibited by the law of Mo- 
ses (Lev. xvii. 3-5 ; Deut. xii. 2-5). The principal high place 
was at Gideon ; and at one of the religious festivals Solomon 
proceeded thither, in solemn pomp, with all his court, the offi- 
cers of the state and army, and the chiefs and elders of the 
people, to render his homage to Jehovah, and to offer sacrifices 
to him. With this homage and with these sacrifices God was 
well pleased ; and the night following he manifested himself to 
Solomon in a dream, and offered to bestow upon him whatever 
blessing he might choose. The young king evinced the wis- 
dom he already possessed, by asking an understanding heart to 
enable him to discharge the awful responsibilities that rested 
on him, in governing the numerous people and the various in- 
terests under his sway. Because he had made so excellent a 
choice from among all the gifts which the Lord of the Universe 
had to bestow, not only was surpassing wisdom given to him, 
but — what he had not asked — glory, and riches, and length ol 
days, were added to the gift. His extraordinary sagacity was 
early shown in his judicial decisions, one example of which is 
given in the celebrated case of the two women living together, 
each of whom had a child. One of the children died in the 
night, and the living child was claimed by both the mothers, 
with equal apparent truth and zeal. When the case came be- 
fore the kiDg, he saw there was no way of discovering the real 
mother of the living child, but by an appeal to the truthfulness 
of maternal affection, and he therefore ordered the living child 
to be cut in two and one half given to each. The earnestness 
with which one of the women entreated that the life of the child 
might be spared, at once discovered the real mother. 

5. Solomon had a great taste for magnificence, which he dis- 
played in many ways. In the State, he introduced a most skil- 
ful organization of all its departments, which were severally 
entrusted to men whose abilities had been tried in the time of 
David ; and the splendour and beautiful order of every depart- 
ment in the court claimed admiration, But the inordinate 
magnificence and extent of all the regal establishments may be 
justly blamed, when we learn tha*t the expenses were too great 
for even his large resources ; so that at length the royal profu- 
sion could only be supported by such oppressive exactions upon 
the people, as in the next reign led to the division of his domin- 
ion into two kingdoms. Some idea of this extravagant magni- 
ficence may be formed from the fact that he had 4000 stalls or 
stables for the horses of his various carriages. The provisions 
required by the court for one day, amounted^ to thirty bushels of 
fine flour, sixty bushels of common flour, ten fat oxen, twenty 
oxen from the pastures, and a hundred sheep, besides venison 
and poultry of all descriptions. A household requiring such 
quantities of food must have consisted of several thousand per- 
sons ; but it is likely that the royal guards were also supplied 
from this store. 


102 


THE TEMPLE FINISHED. 


[b. c. 1005. 

6. It is said that Solomon’s wisdom greatly exceeded that of 
the wisest men, Jewish or foreign, of his own day ; there were 
none equal to him among the people of the east or the Egyp- 
tians, who were justly famous for their knowledge of every use- 
ful science. Three thousand proverbs, many of which remain 
to us, embodied his moral sayings and sage remarks on human 
character. A thousand and live songs, of which only the Canti- 
cles and 127th Psalm remain, ranked him among the first of 
Hebrew poets ; and his perfect knowledge of all kinds of plants, 
beasts, birds, and fishes, was shown by writings, which are 
supposed to have been lost in the Babylonian captivity. 

7. An embassy of condolence and congratulation from Hiram 
king of Tyre, kept open the friendly relations with that king, 
which David had cultivated. It also led to an arrangement 
under which the king of Tyre engaged to bring from Lebanon, 
and land at the port of Joppa, the timber which Solomon re- 
quired for the building of the temple. For this he was to pay 
in corn and oil ; for the Tyrians having only a small tract of 
territory, and being chiefly employed in commerce and manufac- 
tures, obtained their provisions chiefly from the fertile lands of 
Canaan. In return for this, in the ordinary course of traffic, the 
Israelites received the manufactures of the Phoenicians and the 
products of foreign lands. The timber, when landed at Joppa, 
was conveyed by the Tyrians to Jerusalem ; and they also as- 
sisted in preparing the stones for the building. Three years 
were spent in these preparations ; and in the fourth year, the 
foundation of the temple was laid, and in seven years the fabric 
was completed (B. C. 1005.) The temple appears to have been 
a truly splendid structure, and great wealth was consumed in 
its various utensils of precious metal, the whole of which were 
executed by Phoenician artists supplied by Hiram. From the 
connexion of Solomon with Egypt, it is also probable that he 
availed himself of the talent which, in every branch of art, that 
country abundantly supplied. To foreigners certainly much of 
the beauty and perfection of the celebrated temple was owing; 
for the Israelites being chiefly an agricultural people, had but 
little skill in those arts of design and ornament which the un- 
dertakings of Solomon required. The general plan of the temple 
seems to have much resembled that of the tabernacle ; being 
composed of extensive courts for worship and sacrifice in the 
open air, in front of an oblong building comparatively of small 
dimensions, but in all its parts rich and elaborate beyond de- 
scription. This was not, like our churches, for the use of the 
worshippers. It w.as never entered by them ; but was the abode 
of the Divine symt&ls, which were the same as in the taberna- 
cle ; the ark with its hovering cherubim, and the Shechinah, or 
radiant symbol of the Divine presence, being within the interior 
or most sacred of the two apartments into which the building 
was divided, 

8- A high feast was held on the day when the temple was 


WEALTH OF SOLOMON. 


103 


B. c. 1005.] 

dedicated to its destined purpose, and when the sacred services 
commenced. On that day Solomon appeared upon a scaffold 
before the temple, and poured forth a long and most sublime 
prayer, at the conclusion of which the Divine complacency was 
evinced by “ the glory of the Lord” filling the whole house, as it 
had aforetime filled the tabernacle ; after which the radiance 
concentrated over the ark, and there rested as the symbol of the 
Divine presence and occupancy. The first victims were also 
consumed by supernatural fire, which was afterwards constantly 
kept up as the sacred fire of the temple. 

9. The remainder of king Solomon’s reign is a history rather 
of peaceful undertakings than of warlike exploits. He built a 
number of splendid palaces, with pleasure grounds, and basins 
of water. Of these the most celebrated was “ the house of the 
forest of Lebanon,” all the plate and furniture of which seems 
to have been of pure gold, while in the hall hung two hundred 

f olden bucklers, each of which must have been worth fifteen 
undred pounds, and three hundred smaller ones, each worth 
half the former. There also was the royal hall of audience and 
of judgment, where the king sat publicly upon a lofty throne of 
ivory and gold. Many cities were built, others rebuilt, and 
others fortified by Solomon. Of the former the most celebrated 
was Tadmor in the eastern wilderness (B. C. 991,) better known 
by its later name of Palmyra, whose splendid rums excite to this 
day the admiration and wonder of travellers. These, however, 
are not the ruins of Solomon’s buildings, but of others erected in 
after ages on the same site. 

10. The king also engaged in maritime and inland com- 
merce. Being possessed of Eziongeber, a port on the Red Sea, 
which opens into the Indian Ocean, he united with king Hiram 
in sending ships into the eastern seas, which, after an absence 
of three years, returned laden with the valuable products of dis- 
tant climes, — gold, silver, ivory, beautiful and costly woods, and 
precious stones ; gums, spices, and perfumes ; and collections of 
curious plants, animals, and birds, which must have ministered 
much delight to the scientific mind of Solomon, He also car- 
ried on a great trade in the fine linens, the yarn, the horses, 
and the chariots of the Egyptians ; which he bought by his fac- 
tors of the Egyptians, and sold at an enhanced price to the 
Syrian nations. From these sources, and from the tribute of 
the subject nations, vast treasure came into the royal coffers. 
We are told that the commercial voyages alone brought, in one 
year, no less than 666 talents of gold, which some compute at 
£3,646,350 sterling. As for silver, it was of no account in his 
days ; and the previously costly wood of the cedar became as 
common as that of sycamore had been. But most of this pros- 
perity was rather the result of a temporary excitement, than of 
a regular developement of the national resources. Even the 
commercial enterprises were monopolies of the crown ; and the 
greater part of the wealth arising from all sources went into 


104 


SOLOMON SEDUCED TO IDOLATRY. [b. C. 978. 

the royal treasury, and was there absorbed in empty splendour, 
spent on foreigners, or consumed in extravagance. We are not 
therefore surprised that, in his later years, when some of the 
sources of supply had declined, while the cost of the royal es- 
tablishment was undiminished, Solomon was obliged to resort 
to oppressive exaction from his own people, which had well 
nigh ruined the house of David in popular esteem. It is true, 
however, that, taking his reign in the whole, the nation was 
prosperous, as the long continued peace enabled the population 
to increase without check, while every man could attend to his 
lands without distraction. Hence we are told that in his days 
“Judah and Israel dwelt safely, every man under his vine and 
under his fig-tree, from Dan even to Beersheba.” 

11. The vast knowledge of Solomon, his profound sagacity, 
and the order and splendour of his court, attracted many foreign 
princes to Jerusalem. The most celebrated of these visitors 
was the queen of Sheba, supposed by some to have come from 
southern Arabia, but who is more generally thought to have 
been the queen of Abyssinia, which is the firm belief of the 
Abyssinians themselves to this day. The distance from which 
she came, the costly gifts which she brought, and her splendid 
train, excited much admiration. The king satisfactorily solved 
the “ hard questions’’ by which she tried his wisdom ; and all 
that she heard and saw led her to confess that the reality great- 
ly exceeded the scarcely credible rumours which had reached 
her distant land. 

12. Unfortunately, that vain and costly appendage of royal 
state in the east, a large seraglio of women, was deemed by 
Solomon necessary to his magnificence. He had no fewer than 
700 wives of high family, and 300 secondary or concubine wives. 
Many of these were foreigners and idolaters from the neigh- 
bouring nations ; and they, in his latter days, drew him astray, 
not only to participate in their acts of homage to their native 
idols, but to build temples to their honour and for their worship, 
on the hills facing Jerusalem, and in front of the Lord’s own 
temple. Here he joined in sacrifices to Chemosh or Peor, the 
obscene idol of the Moabites, to Moloch the god of the Ammon- 
ites, and to Ashtaroth the goddess of the Sidonians. These do- 
ings greatly provoked the Divine indignation. The splendid 
endowments of Solomon served the more to aggravate his of- 
fence : and at length it was solemnly announced to him, that 
since he had broken the covenant by which he held his crown 
from the Divine King, the kingdom should be rent from him, 
and given to his servant. Nevertheless it was added, that, for 
David’s sake, this should not be done in his time, but in the 
time of his son ; and that, also for the sake of David, one tribe, 
that of Judah (with which Benjamin had now coalesced), should 
remain under the dominion of his house. 

13. This prophecy was soon after made known by the pro- 
phet Ahijah to Jeroboam, an Ephraimite, who had attracted 


B. C. 975.] REVOLT OF THE TEN TRIBES. 103 

the notice of Solomon, and had been by him promoted to the 
high employment of intendant of the imposts levied for the 
state from the tribes of Joseph. The prophet accompanied the 
message by the significant act of rending his own new garment 
into twelve pieces, ten of which he gave to Jeroboam, and re- 
served only two for the house of David. It was then announced 
that the dominion over the ten tribes was given to him ; and 
that it should be confirmed to his descendants, if he and they 
maintained their allegiance to the Divine King. This soon 
came to the knowledge of Solomon, whose attempts to destroy 
the destined rival of his son, taught Jeroboam the prudence of 
leaving the country. He retired into Egypt, where he was well 
received by the king, Shishak, and protected by him till the 
death of Solomon. The repose of the king’s latter days was 
also disturbed by the revolt of the Edomites and the Syrians of 
Damascus. There is reason to hope, that these just punish- 
ments opened the eyes of Solomon to the enormity of his offen- 
ces, and that his last days were repentant. He died about the 
sixtieth year of his age, after a reign of forty years (B. C. 975). 

14. Solomon may have left many sons, but the only one 
known to history is his successor, Rehoboam, who was bom 
the year before his father’s accession, and was therefore forty- 
one years of age when he ascended the throne. 

15. The tribes were now determined to relieve themselves 
from the burdens which, in the later years of his reign, had 
been imposed upon them by Solomon. They therefore recalled 
Jeroboam from Egypt ; and, with him at their head, applied to 
Rehoboam for redress of the grievances under which they had 
laboured. It is evident that the ten tribes were predisposed to 
separate themselves from Judah, and establish an independent 
government. Their sentiments were influenced chiefly by those 
of Ephraim, which proud and powerful tribe could not brook 
that the sovereignty should be in the great rival tribe of Judah. 
They were, therefore, in all probability, rather glad than sorry 
when a rough refusal of redress from Rehoboam gave them a 
reasonable pretext for revolt, and for abandoning their alle- 
giance to the house of David. Accordingly, they revolted, and 
made Jeroboam their King. 

16. As this separation was in accordance with the intentions 
of the Divine King, to punish the house of David for the guilt 
of Solomon, the Sacred Oracle forbade Rehoboam to pursue the 
design which he had formed of reducing the revolted tribes to 
obedience by force of arms. 


106 


BOOK V. 

CHAPTER I. Israel from B. C. 975 to 918, 


JUDAH. 

B. C. 

Rehoboam. , . 975 

Ahijah, . . . 958 

Asa, . . . 955 

Azariah, H, Priest . 938 


ISRAEL. 

Jeroboam I., . 
Nadab, . 
Baasha, . 

Elah, . 

Zimri and Omri, 
Omri dies, 


GENERAL HISTORY. 


B. C. 

. 975 
. 954 
. 953 
. 930 
. 929 
. 918 


B. C. 

Phorhas, 5th Arch- 
on of Athens, . 954 
Osorthon I ., King of 
Egypt, . • 945 

Benhadad K .of Syria 940 
Lycurgus born, . 926 
Tacoello K. of E- 
gypt, . . .925 


1. Jeroboam made the ancient city of Shechem, in his own 
tribe of Ephraim, the seat of his government ; and he had also a 
summer residence at Tirzah in Manasseh. Although released 
from its dependence on Judah, the new kingdom, which was 
called, by way of distinction, the kingdom of Israel, was still 
under allegiance to the Divine King, and bound as much as Ju- 
dah, by all the obligations of the ancient covenants. In both, 
therefore, we are to view the continued operation of the theo- 
cratical system, for the purpose of preserving the knowledge of 
the true God upon earth. Both the kingdoms prospered or 
were humbled in proportion as their conduct promoted or hin- 
dered that great object. 

2. Jeroboam, whatever may have been his original inten- 
tions, soon renounced the peculiar institutions of Judaism. Al- 
though the kingdoms were separated, there was but one tem- 
ple and one altar, one ecclesiastical establishment, for both. 
To the place of the temple and altar all the Israelites were, by 
the law, obliged to repair three times every year, and that 
place was Jerusalem, the metropolis of the rival kingdom. 
Fearing that this might ultimately lead to the re-union of the 
tribes, and to the extinction of his separate kingdom, Jeroboam 
most presumptuously and wickedly dared to abrogate the unity 
of the nation (which might still have been maintained under 
two kingdoms), by forbidding his subjects to repair to Jerusa- 
lem, to render their homage to the Divine King. He alleged 
that the distance made the journey burdensome to them: and, 
therefore, he established two places, towards the opposite ex- 
tremities of his own kingdom, to which they might repair. 
These were Bethel in the south, and Dan in the north. Hav- 
ing himself resided in Egypt, and recollecting the readiness 
with which the Israelites had, in the wilderness, set up a fi- 
gure of the Egyptian ox-god (Mnevis) as the symbol of the 
true God, he now reverted to that superstition, and set up 


NADAB. 


107 


b. c. 954*.] 

“ golden calves” at Dan and Bethel, as objects of religious ser- 
vice and homage. He did not deny the God of Israel and 
turn to other gods ; but for political objects, he prevented the 
access of his subjects to the true symbols of the Divine Pre- 
sence, and caused them to worship Him under forbidden and 
degrading symbols. 

3. To their very great honour, no priests or Levites could be 
found who would connect themselves with this abomination. 
After a vain attempt to stem the evil, the Levites abandoned 
their cities, and removed into the kingdom of Judah. The 
priests were already there, for their towns were all in the ter- 
ritories of Judah. Jeroboam could not induce any respectable 
persons to arrogate the priestly office, and, therefore, the low- 
est and most unprincipled of the people became the fitting 
priests of the golden calves. As to the high-priesthood, he took 
that office to himself, according to the practice in Egypt and 
other countries, where the sovereign was also supreme pontiff. 
As such, he officiated at high festivals, one of which, the Feast 
of Tabernacles, he presumed to change from the seventh to 
the eighth month. These innovations were so shocking to 
every mind well imbued with the principles of the theocracy 
and the true religion, that, by degrees, a large proportion of the 
most valuable men in Israel removed into the sister kingdom. 
By this and other accessions, the kingdom of Judah soon be- 
came, in real strength and power, less unequal to that of Is- 
rael, than the proportion between two and ten tribes would 
seem to indicate. Indeed Judah was already a formed king- 
dom, with well-organized resources and establishments, and 
with much treasure ; so that the balance of power may be 
deemed to have inclined in its favour. 

4. Jeroboam was not allowed to remain long unwarned. He 
was officiating as high-priest at Bethel, at his feast of taber- 
nacles, when a prophet appeared and foretold that a future 
king of Judah, Josiah by name, should profane and destroy 
that very altar at which he was burning incense. The pow- 
er by which the prophet spoke was evinced by the instant 
withering of the hand which the king stretched forth to lay 
hold on the prophet ; and not less by its being instantly re- 
stored at that prophet’s prayer. This, however, had no abid- 
ing effect upon Jeroboam ; he persisted in his evil ways, and at 
length brought ruin upon his house. This doom was announ- 
ced to his wife by the prophet who had anointed him for the 
kingdom. Ahijah was now blind with age ; but when the 
queen, disguised, went to consult him about a beloved son who 
was dangerously ill, he knew her, and not only told her that 
the child should die, but that the dynasty of Jeroboam should 
soon be extinguished ; and that the Israelites for their iniqui- 
ties, should, in the end, be carried away as captives beyond the 
Euphrates. After a reign of twenty-two years Jeroboam died 
(B. C. 954), and was succeeded by his son Nadab, in the second 
year of Asa, king of Judah. 


108 


OMRI DIES. 


[b. c. 918 . 

5. Nadab reigned only two years, during which he adhered to 
the system of his father. He was then murdered by a person 
called Baasha, of the tribe of Issachar, who usurped the crown 
and put to death the whole family of Jeroboam. 

6. Baasha’s government was as offensive to God as it was op» 
pressive to the people, great numbers of whom sought quiet in 
Judah. Displeased at this, Baasha engaged in a sort of skir- 
mishing warfare with Asa, and took Ramah of Benjamin, 
which he began to fortify with the view of controlling the 
intercourse between the two kingdoms. But he was called 
off to defend his own country from the Syrians, whose assist- 
ance had been bought by the king of Judah with gold from 
the temple. Persisting in evil, Baasha incurred for his house 
the doom which had been inflicted on that of Jeroboam. He 
died after a reign of twenty-three years. 

7. Elah, his son, reigned little more than one year, when he 
was murdered at a feast by Zimri, a military commander, who 
then mounted the throne. The army, which was in the field 
against the Philistines, no sooner heard of this than they de- 
clared in favour of their own commander Omri, who immediate- 
ly led them on against his rival. He was at Tirzah ; and when. 
Omri arrived, Zimri, despairing of the result, withdrew to his 
harem, which he set on fire, and perished, with all that belong- 
ed to him, in the flames. 

8. The people, like the army, had refused to recognise the 
murderous Zimri as king, and had chosen one for themselves 
named Tibni, in whom Omri now found another competitor. 
It was not until after six years of civil war that Omri master- 
ed this opposition and remained undoubted king (B. C. 923). 
The most memorable act of his reign was the foundation of a 
new metropolis in a very advantageous situation, (B. C. 918). 
He called it Samaria, after the name of the person (Samar) 
to whom the ground had originally belonged. Omri reigned 
eleven years, and died in the thirty-ninth year of Asa, king of 
Judah. 


109 


CHAPTER II. Judah from 975 to 889. 


JUDAH. 

B. C. 1 

ISRAEL. 

Rehoboam, - . 

. 975 

Jeroboam I. . 

Abijah, . . . 

. 958 

Nadab, . . . 

Asa, 

, 955 

Baasha, . . . 

Jehoshaphat, . 

. 914 

Elah, . . . . 

Dies, 

. 889 

Zimri and Omri, 

Johanan, high priest 

Ahab, . . . . 

of the Jews, 

. 896 

Ahaziah, . . 
Jehoram, . . 


EGYPT. 


B. C. 

975 
. 954 
. 953 
. 930 
, 929 
. 918 
. 897 

896 


b. c. 

Orsokon II., king . 908 
Shishak(Sheshonk) II .890 
to about 860 : after 
which a blank till 
the reign of Boc- 
choris,who ascend- 
ed the throne in 812 


GENERAL HISTORY. 

Megacles, 6th Archon of Athens, . . 923 

Hesiod, the poet. 915 

Homer flourished 1 about . . . . 907 

Diogenetes, 7th Archon of Athens, . . 893 

1. In Judah, the conduct of Rehoboam was without reproach 
during the three first years of his reign. After that, he, and his 
subjects with him, fell into the same gross idolatry and abomi- 
nable practices, which had proved the ruin of the Canaanites. 
To punish them for this apostacy, God allowed an invasion of 
the land by Shishak king of Egypt, (B. C. 970,) who took some 
of the fortified towns, entered Jerusalem, and carried off the 
treasures of the temple and the palace. As this produced re- 
pentance, the remainder of the reign was prosperous. Reho- 
boam reigned seventeen years. 

2. Abijah, the son of Rehoboam by a grand-daughter of Ab- 
salom, succeeded his father. He was an active and martial 
prince, and determined to endeavour, by force of arms, to bring 
back the ten tribes to obedience. He raised a large army for 
that service ; and was met by Jeroboam with an army twice as 
large. Before the battle, Abijah harangued the opposing force 
from Mount Zemaraim. He asserted the indefeasible right of 
the house of David to reign over all the tribes ; he alleged that, 
in the revolt, undue advantage had been taken of Reboboam’s 
inexperience ; and he gathered confidence of success from the 
adherence of Judah to the theocratical institutions, which Israel 
had so heinously forsaken. This reliance gained him the vic- 
tory. Jeroboam lost two-thirds of his immense army, and never 
recovered the strength he then lost. Abijah was thus enabled 
to advance his frontier, by taking from Israel several border 
towns, among which we find the name of Bethel, where was 
one of the golden calves. We are not, however, told that he 
destroyed that idol ; and it would appear that the town itself was 
ultimately recovered by Israel ; perhaps on the death of Abijah, 
Which soon followed, after a short reign of three years. 


110 


ASA. 


[b. c. 955 . 

3. Asa, who then ascended the throne, was a prince of great 
piety and virtue. He ruled quietly for ten years, which he em- 
ployed in the reformation of the abuses of former reigns. He 
destroyed all idols and their altars, and employed all the means 
in his power to restore the pure worship of God, and re-establish 
the principles of the theocratical government. His own adhe- 
sion to these principles, which required implicit confidence in 
the Divine King, was severely tried by an invasion of the coun- 
try by a vast host of the Cushites (called Ethiopians), under 
Zerah, their king (B. C. 941). Strong in the confidence that it 
was equally in the Lord’s power to give the victory with few as 
with many, the pious Asa advanced with a comparatively small 
force to his southern frontier, to meet this immense horde. In 
that confidence, the Cushites were totally overthrown before 
him, and the victory gave him the abundant spoil and numerous 
cattle of this pastoral horde. This repulsion of a torrent which 
had threatened to overwhelm all the neighbouring states, and 
which must have been regarded with general apprehension, 
could not but enhance his credit in the adjoining countries. 

4. Five following years of profound peace he employed, under 
the advice of the prophet Azariah, in pursuing his reformations 
with a still more vigorous and less sparing hand. Even his own 
grandmother, the guardian of his youth, was banished from 
court on account of her idolatries. These reforms put the king- 
dom in such advantageous contrast with that of Israel, that the 
well-disposed subjects of that kingdom removed in great num- 
bers into Judah. Alarmed at this, Baasha of Israel, took the 
measures which have been already mentioned to check the com- 
munication between the two kingdoms. The conduct of Asa, 
in hiring the Syrians with the gold of the temple, to make a 
diversion in his favour, did not become his character, nor evince 
that confidence in the Great King which he had on more trying 
occasions exemplified. He also imprisoned the prophet Hanani, 
who reproved him for his conduct on this occasion. His latter 
years were also stained by several acts of oppression ; and when 
afflicted with a grievous disease in the feet, he manifested more 
confidence in his physicians, and less in God, than was con- 
sidered becoming. He died after a reign of forty-one years, and 
was honoured by his subjects with a magnificent funeral ; for 
the Jews, like other Orientals, were in the habit of making 
known, by funeral testimonials, the estimation in which they 
held their deceased kings. 

5. The excellent father was succeeded by the still more ex- 
cellent son Jehoshaphat. The first act of his reign was to re- 
move the high places and the groves, which Asa had left un- 
touched. Then, becoming convinced that the most effectual 
means of preventing the return of the corruptions which had 
with so much difficulty been rooted out, was to provide for the 
suitable instruction of the people, in the third year of his reign, 
he sent out, through all the cities of Judah, a number of chiefs or 


JEHOSHAPHAT. 


Ill 


B. c. 914.] 

“ princes,” whose rank and influence secured respect and atten- 
tion to the priests and Levites who, with them, were to instruct 
the people in the law of Moses. The king himself made a tour 
through his kingdom to see that due effect was in this matter 
given to his intentions. 

6. Having made this the first object of his care, Jehoshaphat 
found leisure to examine and reform the abuses which had crept 
into various departments of the state, and to develope the civil 
and military resources of the country. His cares were rewarded 
by the increasing prosperity and numbers of his people, by their 
happiness, and by the exemption from war which his manifest 
preparedness for it secured. All the men fit to bear arms were 
regularly enrolled, and were found to be no less than 1,160,000; 
being not materially fewer than the number returned for all the 
tribes (except Levi and Benjamin), in the time of David. Of 
these a certain proportion was kept in service, to act as royal 
guards at Jerusalem, to garrison the fortresses, and to protect 
the northern frontier from the kings of Israel. The effective or- 
der which the king thus established throughout his kingdom pro- 
cured for him the respect of foreign states, while Edom was re- 
tained in its subjection, and the Philistines dared not withhold 
their tribute silver. 

7. The grand error of Jehoshaphat’s reign was the alliance 
he contracted with the idolatrous Ahab king of Israel, who 
thought it safer to have the king of Judah for a friend than an 
enemy, and therefore paid court to him. The alliance was soon 
cemented by a marriage between Ahab’s daughter Athaliah, and 
Jehoram the son of Jehoshaphat. In consequence of this con- 
nection a friendly intercourse was established between the two 
kings ; and on a visit paid by Jehoshaphat to the court of Ahab, 
he allowed himself to be persuaded to accompany him in an ex- 
pedition to recover Ramoth-Gilead from the Syrians. In that 
action Ahab was killed, and Jehoshaphat narrowly escaped with 
his life to Jerusalem. On his arrival he was severely reproved 
by the prophet Jehu for so injurious and improper a connection. 
The king testified his repentance in the best possible way by pro- 
secuting his reformations with renewed vigour. A personal 
tour through the kingdom evinced the sincerity of his endeavour 
to bring his subjects into a right state of feeling towards the God 
of their fathers. In this tour the king discovered many abuses 
and irregularities in the administration of justice ; and he there- 
fore established local courts in every important town, with a 
right of appeal to the superior courts at Jerusalem. To all these 
courts competent judges were appointed ; and they were dis- 
missed to their duties with a plain and forcible charge from the 
king. 

8. T he next undertaking of Jehoshaphat was an attempt to re- 
open the maritime traffic which Solomon had carried on by way 
of the Red Sea. But he unfortunately allowed Ahaziah, the 
king of Israel, to become a partner in the enterprize, in conse- 


JEHOSHAPHAT DIES. 


112 


[b. c. 889 . 


quence of which the Lord refused to prosper the design, and 
the ships were destroyed by a storm almost as soon as they left 
the port of Ezion-Geber. Ahaziah wished to renew the at- 
tempt, but Jehoshaphat refused, and appears to have abandoned 
the project altogether. 

9. Very soon after this Jehoshaphat obtained a very signal de- 
liverance from a formidable and quite unexpected invasion from 
the south, by a large force of Moabites and Ammonites, together 
with some Arabian tribes whom they had engaged in the enter- 
prize. They came by the way of Edom, and had arrived as far 
as En-gedi before Jehoshaphat was well aware of their presence. 
He had no resource but to throw himself unreservedly upon the 
Great King : and this confidence was rewarded by the promise 
of deliverance. In fact the Judahites had no occasion to draw 
a sword ; for there arose such a spirit of discord among the inva- 
ders, that after the Ammonites and Moabites had quarrelled 
and destroyed their Arabian auxiliaries, they repeated the same 
process among themselves ; so that the people under Jehosha- 
phat had nothing to do but collect the spoil which they had left. 
This was so large that it took three days to gather it together ; 
after which they returned with great joy to Jerusalem, and be- 
fore they entered the city they held a solemn thanksgiving in 
the valley of Shaveh. 

10. The king of Judah was probably induced, by his resent- 
ment at the invasion of the Moabites, to give his aid to the king 
of Israel, Jehoram, in the attempt to re-establish over that peo- 
ple the dominion of Israel, from which they had revolted on the 
death of Ahab. The allies got into a position of imminent dan- 
ger, and their deliverance was declared to be solely owing to 
the divine favour towards Jehoshaphat (B. C. 895). 

11. Not long after this Jehoshaphat died, having lived sixty 
years, and reigned twenty-five. He was undoubtedly the great- 
test of the Hebrew kings since Solomon, and the most faithful 
since David (B. C. 889). 


113 


CHAPTER III. 


Israel from B. C. 91S to 897. 


JUDAH. 

B. C. 

Jehoshaphat, king, . . . , 914 


ISRAEL. 

B. C. 


Ahab, king, 918 

The great drought begins, . . 910 

Return of rain — plenty, . . . 906 

Benhadad’s invasion, . . . • 901 

Naboth slain : and Ahab doomed 899 
Ahab slain in battle at Ramoth- 
Gilead, 897 


1. Omri was succeeded by his son Ahab, the events of whose 
reign are related at greater length than those of any other king 
of Israel. His reign was for the most part contemporary with 
that of Jehoshaphat in Judah. In both their public and private 
character there never was a greater contrast than between these 
two kings. We have seen how zealously Jehoshaphat laboured 
to restore and establish the knowledge and the worship of the 
true God among his people But Ahab exceeded all former 
kings in his abominations. His predecessors had been content 
to make religion an implement of human policy, by the unwar- 
rantable worship of God, under the profane symbol of the gold- 
en calves ; but Ahab betook himself to the worship of foreign 

f ods instead of the God of Israel. The preference appears to 
ave been given to Baal, the great sun-god of the Phoenicians ; 
which is to be ascribed to the influence of Ahab’s wife Jezebel, 
who was a daughter of Ethbaal, king of Tyre, — an unscrupu- 
lous and wicked woman, who was very zealous for her national 
idol. She soon procured his worship to be established in the 
land of Israel ; and as the religious sentiments of the people 
had been corrupted by the worship of the golden calves, it is 
not wonderful that they very readily transferred their homage 
to an idolatry pleasant to the natural depravity of man. Jeho- 
vah was not formally rejected or abandoned ; but Baal received 
at least equal worship from the multitude, and greater from the 
court. 

2. To stem the tide of corruption, and to prevent the total 
apostacy of Israel, God raised up a man endued with extraor- 
dinary gifts and powers, ardent zeal, and stern virtues, such as 
the time required. This was Elijah, the Tishbite,* by far the 
greatest prophet, both in word and deed, which had appeared 
since Moses. He is introduced abruptly, as boldly announcing 
to Ahab in person the national punishment of a long drought, 
and consequent scarcity, not to be removed but by his own inter- 

* So called from his native place, which was probably Thebez, a town 
of Manasseh beyond Jordan. 

K* 


114 


ELIJAH. 


[b. c. 906. 

cession. This last condition made it necessary for the prophet 
to withdraw himself from the presence and solicitations of the 
king. When, therefore, the drought began to be felt, in the 
eighth year of Ahab’s reign, Elijah retired beyond the Jordan, 
and concealed himself by the brook Cherith, where Providence 
directed ravens to furnish him with regular supplies of bread 
and meat, morning and evening. When the brook was dried 
up for want of rain, the prophet crossed the country to Sarepta, 
a town in the kingdom of Jezebel’s father, to which also the 
drought and famine had extended. He remained at this place 
two years, lodging with a poor widow and her son ; and during 
all that time of famine, they were supported through the miracu- 
lous inexhaustion of a handful of flour and a little oil, the only re- 
maining food of the poor woman when the prophet met with her. 

3. Three years had Elijah remained in obscurity — one year 
by the brook Cherith, and two in Sarepta. During this time 
Israel suffered greatly ; and Ahab had sought for the prophet 
in every quarter, convinced that the remedy was in his hands. 
God, intending now to give rain, and to remove the famine, or- 
dered the prophet to return to Israel. On the way, he met Oba- 
diah, one of the king’s household, who had been sent out to 
seek forage for the cattle. This person, at the risk of his own 
life, had sheltered many holy persons in a cave, and supplied 
them with victuals, during a recent persecution by Jezebel. 
Elijah sent Obadiah back to announce his re-appearance to 
Ahab, who then came out to meet him. When the king saw 
him, he said, “ Art thou he who troubleth Israel ?” But the 
prophet sternly retorted the charge, alleging that the apostacy 
of himself and his people was the cause of the national suffer- 
ing. He further required the king to convene a general assem- 
bly of his priests and people at Carmel. 

4. In that great assembly there were no fewer than 450 priests 
of Baal. Elijah proposed that these priests should call upon 
Baal, and that he should call upon the name of Jehovah, and 
that the Deity who should make it appear that he had heard 
their prayers, by consuming with fire from heaven the sacrifices 
to be offered, should be acknowledged as the true God. It was 
impossible for the priests of Baal to decline so fair a trial, espe- 
cially as fire was the congenial element of the god they wor- 
shipped. Accordingly, they prepared their altar, and laid out 
upon it their sacrifices, and continued, with frantic invocations, 
to ask the required sign, until above half the day was spent ; 
but no sign in heaven or earth answered to their cry. Then 
Elijah rose, and after some biting ridicule of the impotent god 
and his votaries, proceeded to repair an old altar, which had 
formerly been erected there. Upon this he placed his sacrifices, 
and called solemnly upon the God of Israel to manifest his pow- 
er. He was instantly answered by fire from heaven, — so in- 
tense, that it consumed not only the victims and the wood, but 
the very stones and dust of the place, and absorbed the water 


ELIJAH. 


115 



Mount Sinai, or Horeb. 

had been originally delivered, the Lord manifested himself to 

his servant, not in the whirlwind, the earthquake, or the fire 

but in “ a still small voice,” which spoke comfort to his own 
desolate soul, and encouraged him by the assurance, that where- 
as he deemed that he was himself the only worshipper of God 
left in Israel, there were indeed seven thousand who had not 
bowed the knee to Baal. He was then directed to return home ; 
and on the way, he met with Elisha, ploughing in the field. 


B. c. 906.] 

which had been poured profusely on the whole. At this as- 
tounding display of miraculous power, the people fell on their 
*aces, ^ crying, “ The Lord, he is the God ; the Lord, he is the 
• ° r instance °f the prophet, they evinced the sincer- 

ity of their conviction, by seizing the priests of Baal, and des- 
troying them all. The prophet then went to the top of Carmel, 
and prayed for rain. A little cloud arising from the sea was the 
first answer to his prayer *. and that welcome sign was soon fol- 
lowed by abundant and heavy rain. 

5. Learning that Jezebel had vowed his death, on account of 
the slaughter of Baal’s priests, the prophet withdrew toBeer- 
sheba, where he left his servant, and proceeded alone across the 
desert to Horeb, “the Mount of God.” Here, where the law 


116 


benhadad’s invasion. 


[b. c. 901. 

Knowing that this person was his destined successor, he intima- 
ted the fact by casting over him his mantle. Elisha then wen* 
with him, and remained in attendance upon him. 

6. Now Israel was invaded by Benhadad, king of Syria* of 
Damascus, at the head of a numerous army, with which he in- 
vested Samaria. The kingdom was too much exhausted by the 
recent famine to allow Ahab to make any effectual resistance. 
But although he was unworthy of any help, yet God, for the 
glory of his own great name, sent a prophet to promise him 
victory, and to instruct him how to act. Benhadad was in con- 
sequence defeated, and with difficulty saved his life by flight. 
Yet the next year he made another invasion with a more pow- 
erful force, hoping to bring the Israelites to action in the piain : 
for he had arrived at the foolish conclusion, that the God of Is- 
rael (to whom he ascribed his previous defeat) was indeed a God 
of the mountains, but not a God of the valleys. To correct so 
dishonouring a notion of his power, God again gave the victory 
to Ahab. But instead of following up this success, Ahab con- 
cluded a league of amity with Benhadad, which was so dis- 
pleasing to God, that, a prophet was sent to announce the evils 
which would befall his house through the neglect of this oppor- 
tunity of breaking the Syrian power. 

7. It was not until nine years after the transactions at Mount 
Carmel, that Elijah and Ahab had another interview, which 
was the last. The prophet came to denounce the Divine ven- 

„ geance against him and his family, for killing Naboth under the 
forms of law, in order to obtain possession of a vineyard which 
that person had refused. For his great iniquities the prophet 
declared that his posterity should be cut off; and that, for this 
iniquity in particular, dogs should lap his own blood in the 
place where they lapped the blood of Naboth ; and that the 
dogs should eat the flesh of Jezebel under the wall of Jezreel. 
On hearing this dreadful denunciation, the king manifested 
some signs of humiliation and contrition, in consequence of 
which the doom upon his wife and family was postponed from 
his own time to that of his successor. 

8. The last act of Ahab’s reign was the expedition against 
the Syrians, in which Jehoshaphat took part, as noticed in the 
preceding chapter. When that excellent prince was invited to 
go with the army, he was not satisfied with the assurances of 
success which the “false prophets” of Ahab gave in great 
abundance : but wished to see “a prophet of the Lord beside.” 
Ahab therefore sent for a prophet named Micaiah, whom he 
nevertheless declared that he hated, because he did not proph- 
esy good concerning him, but evil. Micaiah verified this 
when he arrived, by telling him that if he went, he would nev- 
er return alive. On this the indignant king commanded him to 

* The u kings of Syria,” in the Scriptural history, were the kings of 
that portion ot Syria of which Damascus was the capital. 


AttAB SLAIN. 


m 


b. c. 897.] 

be kept in prison until his return “ in peace which the un- 
flinching prophet persisted would never be. The kings went 
against the Syrians ; but before the battle began, Ahab, secretly 
alarmed at the prediction of Micaiah, invidiously proposed to 
Jehoshaphat that he should take the chief command, and appear 
in his royal robes, while he himself would wear an ordinary 
dress. He hoped to favour his own escape, by exposing the 
king of Judah. In fact, Jehoshaphat being taken for the king of 
Israel, was in great danger of his life; but Ahab escaped not. 
An arrow shot at random by a Syrian soldier penetrated the 
joints of his coat of mail, and inflicted a mortal wound. He im- 
mediately retired from the field to have his wound dressed ; but 
fearing to discourage his men, quickly returned, and remained 
in the field till he died in his chariot. When this was known, 
the army was commanded to disperse. The washing of Ahab’s 
chariot in the pool of Jezreel, to which city his body was taken, 
caused the fulfilment of the prediction that dogs should lick his 
blood at the place where they had licked the blood of Naboth. 


CHAPTER IV. Judah from B. C. 889 to 809. 


JUDAH. 

B. C. 

Jehoram or Joram, 
king, . . . 889 

Ahaziah, king, . 885 

Athaliah, queen, . 884 
Joash or Jehoash, 
king, . . . 878 

Zechariah, high 
priest, . . . 850 

Amariah, high 
priest, , . . 846 

Amaziah, king, . 838 
Amaziah dies, . 809 


ISRAEL. 

B. C. 

Jehu, king, . . 884 

, ijehoahaz, king, . 856 
Jehoash or Joash, 
king, . . . . 839 

Jeroboam II., king, 323 


general history. 

b. c. 

Phidon, king of Ar. 

gos, .... 869 
Carthage founded, 869 
Pherecles, 8th Archon 
of Athens, . . 863 
Ariphron, 9th Archon 
of Athens, . . 846 
Thespieus, 10th Ar- 
chon of Athens, 826 
Bocchoris (Pehor, 
Bakhor), king of 
Egypt, ... 812 


1. In the kingdom of Judah, Jehoshaphat was succeeded by his 
son Jehoram or Joram, who has before been mentioned as hav- 
ing married Ahab’s daughter, Athaliah. He was thirty-eight 
years of age when he began to reign, and proved a very degen- 
erate son of an excellent father. The first act of his reign was 
the murder of his six brothers, and some of the chief persons 
of the nation. He was also persuaded by Athaliah to subvert 
the worship of the Lord, and introduce the corruptions which 
prevailed in the sister kingdom. For this, the prophet Elisha, 
by letter, denounced the Divine vengeance upon him and upon 
his house. This was speedily executed. The Edomites threw 


118 


AHAZIAH. 


[b. c. 885. 

off the yoke, as had long before been foretold (Gen. xxvii. 40), 
and Libnah, on his southern frontier, revolted. The Philistines 
narassed him on the west ; and he was invaded from the south 
by the Arabians, who plundered his country and palaces, carry- 
ing into captivity all his wives except Athaliah, and all his 
sons except Ahaziah, the youngest. Lastly, to fill up the mea- 
sure of his punishments, he was afflicted with a horrible dis- 
ease in his bowels, of which he died after a torturing illness of 
two years and a reign of eight. 

2. Ahaziah, called also Jehoahaz, who then ascended the 
throne, was twenty-two years old. He was as bad as his father, 
and associated as much by character as birth with the house 
of Ahab. He joined his cousin Jehoram, the reigning king of 
Israel, in another effort to recover Ramoth-Gilead from the 
Syrians. After they had returned to Jezreel, in consequence of 
a wound which Jehoram received, both the kings were slain in 
the conspiracy of Jehu, who was commissioned to exterminate 
the house of !A.hab. The servants of Ahaziah were allowed to 
convey his body to Jerusalem, for burial in the royal sepulchre. 
He reigned only one year. 

3. When Athaliah saw that her son was dead, she resolv- 
ed to take the sovereign power into her own hands. She 
therefore destroyed all of the royal family whose present or 
prospective claims stood in the way of her ambition. No one 
escaped, except her grandson Joash, the son of Ahaziah, an 
infant of a year old. He was hidden from her rage, with his 
nurse, in the chambers of the temple, by his aunt Jehosheba, 
the wife of the high-priest. Athaliah now ruled Judah with 
a high hand. She established the worship of Baal through the 
land, and persecuted the faithful few who still adhered to the 
worship of Jehovah. Thus six year passed ; when Jehoiada, 
the high-priest, resolved to endure her usurpation and profligacy 
no longer, but to produce Joash, then seven years old, to the 
people as their king. Having engaged the Levites to support 
the design, a time was fixed for its execution. On that day the 
avenues and gates of the temple being strictly guarded by well- 
armed Levites, the young prince was carried into the inner court 
of the temple, under a strong escort of priests, and was there 
anointed and proclaimed king of Judah. 

4 The blast of the trumpets, and the shouts .and acclama- 
tions of the people, attracted the attention of Athaliah, who re- 
paired in haste to the temple. A glance revealed to her the 
hateful truth, and she turned away with a cry of “ Treason !” 
But no one moved in her favour, not even when, by order of 
Jehoiada, the guards seized her and led her forth to inevitable 
death. The high-priest now charged the king and people to 
renew the national covenant with God, and to serve and wor- 
ship him only. He then led the willing people to destroy the 
temple and idols of Baal, whose priests and prophets were also 
slain. In reading the account of these transactions, we must 


6. c. 878,] 


JOASti, 


119 


bear in mind that, under the theocracy, idolatry was not merely 
a religious error, but high treason against the Supreme Head 
of the commonwealth. 

5. While the young king acted under the direction of Jehoiada, 
he reigned well, and order was restored to the kingdom. But 
after the death of that eminent person, he fell under the in- 
fluence of bad advisers — idolaters at heart — by whom he was 
seduced from the worship of the true God to those abomi- 
nations through which the nation had already suffered so deep- 
ly. This provoked the Divine anger, of which he was already 
warned by the piophets. Arlength when the king and people 
were celebrating a festival in the temple, Zechariah, the son 
and successor of Jehoiada, remonstrated so strongly against his 
conduct, that the indignant king commanded Zechariah, his 
cousin and the son of his benefactor, to be stoned, even in that 
sacred place; and his cruel and unjust command was but too 
readily obeyed by the apostate multitude. Many evils fell 
upon Judah for these iniquities. The land was invaded by the 
Syrians, who ravaged the country and plundered Jerusalem. 
Many of the inhabitants, as well as of the king's court and 
household, were put to the sword, and the invaders withdrew 
with immense booty to Damascus. Shortly after this, Joash, 
being afflicted with grievous diseases, was assassinated by two 
of his attendants, after a reign of forty and a life of forty-seven 
years. 

6. Amaziah, the son of Joash, was twenty-five years old 
when he succeeded his father. He began his reign well, and 
re-established the worship of Jehovah : but he, like all his pre- 
decessors, continued the unsanctioned practice of offering sacri- 
fices in the high places. When he was settled in the throne, 
he brought the murderers of his father to condign punishment; 
but showed his respect for the law (Deut. xxiv. 16) by sparing 
their children, contrary to the general practice of the East. Af- 
terwards, about the twelth year of his reign (B. C. 827*), he 
undertook to reduce to obedience the Edomites, who had re- 
volted in the reign of his father. He got together 300,000 men 
for this expedition; and not deeming this a sufficient num- 
ber, hired 100,000 warriors from the king of Israel, for 100 
talents of silver. This was displeasing to God, who ordered 
him, by a prophet, to send them back again ; and he manifested 
a just sense of his position, as the viceroy of the Divine King, 
by his compliance, which involved the loss of the money he 
had advanced. The Israelites were very far from being pleased 
at their dismissal, and testified their resentment by the ravages 
and barbarities which they committed on their way home. 
Ahaziah was rewarded for his obedience by a complete victory 
over the Edomites, of whom he slew ten thousand in battle ; 
and ten thousand more, whom he had taken prisoners, he un- 
justifiably destroyed, by casting them down from the cliffs of 
their native mountains. He took the metropolis, Selah, and 


AMAZIAH. 


lid 


[b. c. 838 . 


changed its riame to Joktheel. This is, in all probability, the 
lately discovered Petra, whose marvellous excavations have 
been regarded with much admiration. 

7. The savage cruelty of Amaziah to the captive Edomites 
was not the only evil connected with this expedition; for, hav- 
ing brought away with him the idols of Edom, he, With won- 
derful infatuation, set them up as objects of religious homage 
at Jerusalem ; and the services of God’s temple were once more 
forsaken or eclipsed. After repeated warnings, his doom went 
forth from God, and its execution speedily followed. Puffed 
up with his victory over Edom, he formed the wild project of 
reducing the ten tribes to obedience to the house of David, and 
provoked Joash,the king of Israel to hostilities, notwithstanding 
his endeavour to avoid them. In the first action the army of 
Amaziah was completely routed ; he was himself taken pris- 
oner and carried in triumph to his own capital, which was 
taken, and the fortifications demolished. The rapacious con- 
queror stript even the temple of its treasures; but at his depar- 
ture he left Amaziah in possession of his dishonoured crown. 
The disgrace which Amaziah had brought upon the nation 
was so intolerable to his own subjects, that a powerful conspir- 
acy was formed against him, and he was killed at Lachish, to 
which place he had fled for safety (B. C. S09). He reigned 
twenty-nine years. 







m 


CHAPTER V. Israel from B. C. 897 to 77i. 


JUDAH. 

B. C. 

Jehoram, king, . 889 
Ahaziah, king, . 886 
Athaliah, king, . 885 
Joash or Jehoash, 
king, ... 878 
Amaziah, king, . 838 
Uzziah or Azariah, 
king, .... 809 
Menahem, king, . 770 


ISRAEL. 

b. c. 

I Ahaziah, king, . 897 
Translation of Eli- 
jah, . . . . 896 

Jehoram or Joram, 
king, .... 896 
Jehu, king, . . 884 
Jehoahaz, king . 856 
Jehoash, king, . 839 
Jeroboam II., king, 823 
Interregnum, . . 783 
Zechariah & Shal- 
lum, kings, . . 771 
The prophets Jo- 
nah, Ainos, Ho- 
shea, flourish in 
the time of Jero- 
boam II. — Isai- 
ah begins in the 
last year of Uz- 
ziah. 


GENERAL HISTORY. 

B. C. 

Hazael king of Sy- 
ria, .... 884 
Benhadad II. king 
of Syria, . . 836 
Kingdom of Mace- 
don begins, . . 814 
Jonah's prophecy 
against Nineveh, 800 
Kingdom of Lydia 
begins, . . . 797 
Monarchy ends in 
Corinth, . . . 778 
So, Sabaco or Sa- 
bakoph, king of 
Egypt, ... 773 


1. Ahab was succeeded, in Israel, by his son Ahaziah, who 
adhered to the abominations which his father had added to those 
of Jeroboam. The chief events of his reign were the revolt of 
the Moabites, and his unfortunate alliance with Jehoshaphat in 
the attempt to recover the maritime traffic by the Red Sea. 
Being greatly injured by a fall from the lattice of an upper 
chamber, Ahaziah sent messengers to consult the oracles of 
Baal-Zebub, the fly-god of Ekron, respecting his recovery. The 
messengers were intercepted by Elijah the prophet, who sent 
them back, and afterwards went himself, to denounce, as a pun- 
ishment of his impious abandonment of the God of Israel, and 
his resorting to foreign idols, that he should rise no more from 
the bed on which he had lain down. Accordingly he died, af- 
ter a reign of two years. 

• 2. Having no sons, Ahaziah was succeeded by his brother 
Jehoram or Joram. He removed the foreign and recent idola- 
tries ; but would not interfere with the golden calves of Jerobo- 
am, probably on account of the political consideration connected 
with their worship. The first year of this reign was distin- 
guished by one of the most extraordinary events in Biblical his- 
tory,— the translation to heaven of the prophet Elijah, who was 
rapt away in a whirlwind in a chariot and horses of fire. Eli- 
sha was present; and on him the mantle and the power of his 
master devolved. This was soon proved ; for the Jordan, when 
smitten by the prophetic mantle, opened to give him passage, 

It 


m 


JEHORAM. 


[b. c. 896 . 

as it had before done to Elijah ; at his word the bitter waters of 
Jericho were made sweet ; and soon after his curse brought 
bears from the wood to destroy some young men who mocked 
at the translation of Elijah, and insulted his successor. By 
these signs Elisha, although a man of different temperament and 
habits, became known to all Israel as one invested with the 
spirit and power of Elias. 

3. The beginning of Jehoram’s reign was prosperous ; for, as 
Elisha declared, on account of Jehoshaphat having joined him in 
the enterprise, his army was, by special interpositions of Provi- 
dence, delivered from circumstances of great danger, and ena- 
bled to subdue the Moabites, who had revolted in die preceding 
reign. In this campaign, the king of Moab, when besieged by 
the allies in his capital, and pressed to extremities, offered up 
in sacrifice his eldest son, upon the wall of the city, hoping thus 
to render his idols propitious. Horror-struck at such a sight, 
the allies raised the siege and returned home. Elisha also re- 
turned to Samaria, where in his prophetic capacity, he wrought 
several signal miracles, which gave him a great and useful in- 
fluence with the people. 

4. The partial reformations with which Jehoram commenced 
his reign, were not the result of decided principles. They 
were, therefore, soon abandoned, or not carried out ; and both 
king and people speedily relapsed into the former idolatries. 
This was punished by a new invasion by the Syrians under their 
king Benhadad. He subdued the whole country to the metrop- 
olis, Samaria, which he could only hope to reduce by famine, 
and to which, therefore, he laid seige. The famine and attend- 
ant miseries which were experienced in Samaria during this 
siege defy description. The extremity of hunger at length be- 
came so great, that every kind of edible substance, however un- 
usual or unwholesome, was devoured ; and some women were 
known to have fed on the flesh of their own children. When 
the king heard of this he rent his robes with horror and an- 
guish of soul, and disclosed the penitential sackcloth which he 
wore next his skin. But he was still as far as ever from a right 
mind. His indignation turned against Elisha, whom he suppos- 
ed to have the power to avert these evils ; and he swore that 
he should be put to death that day. Aware of this intention, 
the prophet refused to admit the king’s messenger into the 
house he occupied. Jehoram himself followed, perhaps to 
countermand the order he had given; and to him the prophet 
announced an immediate deliverance, and a superabundance of 
provisions in Samaria on the following day. This seemed in- 
credible to some of those who heard the announcement. But 
the night following it was found that the Syrians had raised the 
siege and fled away in great alarm, leaving every thing behinu 
them. They had miraculously been made to hear a noise of a 
vast host of chariots and horses, which led them to conclude 
that the Israelites had purchased relief from the neighbouring 


b. c. 884-.] 


JEHU. 


123 


states : hence their panic and its consequences. The delivered 
and famished citizens rushed upon the forsaken camp, in which 
they found rich spoils and great abundance of food. 

5. Towards the end of this reign, the king of Syria, Benha- 
dad, was secretly murdered in his sick-bed by Hazael, one of 
his chief officers, who then usurped the throne. Soon after this, 
Jehoram determined to make another effort to recover Ramoth- 
Gilead from the Syrians ; and, as we have seen in the previous 
chapter, persuaded Ahaziah, the king of Judah, to go with him. 
The king of Israel was severely wounded and obliged to leave 
the army and retire to Jezreel, and was soon followed by Aha- 
ziah. Long before this, when in Horeb, Elijah had been com- 
missioned to anoint, as king of Israel, Jehu, the son of Nimshi, 
who was to execute the doom of extermination upon the house 
of Ahab. This charge he had delayed to execute, and it now 
therefore devolved upon Elisha. Now, Jehu was one of the 
generals left in charge of the military operations before Ramoth- 
Gilead after the king had departed. One of the “ sons of the 
prophets” was sent to anoint him there, and to charge him at 
once to execute his commission as the Lord’s avenger upon the 
house of Ahab. Jehu was popular with the army ; and when 
the officers heard of this appointment they haileff it with ac- 
clamations, and immediately proclaimed him publicly as king 
of Israel. They then followed Jehu to Jezreel, whither, with 
his usual promptitude, he determined to proceed before any 
others could convey the tidings. When his approach was dis- 
covered from the walls of that city, Jehoram, quite ignorant of 
these transactions, and being impatient to know whether he re- 
turned in triumph or defeat, went forth to meet him, accom- 
panied by the king ot Judah. But when they met in the fatal 
field of Naboth, after a few bitter words, Jehu slew him, and 
his body was left unburied in the open field. Ahaziah of Ju- 
dah, being of the house of Ahab by his mother Athaliah, was 
also slain ; but his body was conveyed for interment to Jeru- 
salem. 

6. As Jehu entered Jezreel, the queen-mother Jezebel present- 
ed herself, royally attired, at a window of the palace; but at 
the command of Jehu, she was cast down by her own servants, 
and dashed to pieces, and trodden under foot by horses. It was 
found, not long after, that her body had been devoured by dogs, 
according to the prediction of Elijah. The rest of Ahab’s family, 
seventy in number, who were at Samaria, were killed, and their 
heads sent to Jehu by the men in authority there, in evidence 
of their obedience to the new king. After he had rooted out all 
of the doomed race that were in Jezreel, he proceeded himself 
to SK ^taria, and extirpated all who bore affinity to the family. 
^The establishment at Samaria for the service of Baal, — temple, 
idol, and priests, were totally destroyed by Jehu; and he de- 
nounced a similar fate against whoever should attempt to re- 
vive what he had overthrown. The consequence of this severe 


124 


JEROBOAM. 


[b. c. 834. 

proceeding was, that the idolatry of Baal never again gained 
head in Israel ; although idolatry itself was far from being des- 
troyed. Indeed, Jehu made no attempt to interfere with the 
golden calves ; and, altogether, his zeal, although effective and 
vehement in operation, only led him to do what coincided with 
his interest or humour. For the completeness with which he 
had accomplished his avenging mission, it was promised to Je- 
hu that his dynasty should endure for four generations. The 
defects of his obedience probably prevented a more extended du- 
ration; but still his family sat on the throne above a hundred 
years, which is longer than the rule of any other dynasty in Is- 
rael. The result of the war on the other side of Jordan was, 
that Hazael proved victorious, and deprived Israel of all its 
possessions on that side of the river. Jehu reigned twenty- 
eight years. 

7. He was succeeded by his son Jehoahaz, who also adhered 
to the schismatical worship and institutions of the golden calves. 
For this the Syrians were allowed to extend their power to the 
west of the Jordan, and so to prevail that at length the whole 
force left to the king of Israel consisted of no more than 50 
horsemen, ten chariots, and 10,000 infantry. Jehoahaz reigned 
seventeen years. 

8. Joash, his son, then ascended the throne. Soon after, he 
visited the prophet Elisha when on his death-bed, and was en- 
couraged by the dying prophet, who assured him of three suc- 
cessive victories over the Syrians. He accordingly ventured to 
rise against them, and succeeded in expelling them from his do- 
minions. He also repulsed the Moabites, who invaded his ter- 
ritories. These successes procured for troubled Israel a few 
years of tranquillity and peace. Joash reigned sixteen years. 

9. Jeroboam II. succeeded his father. He was as bad as most 
of his predecessors : and the condition of the Israelites was dai- 
ly becoming more depressed. The country was succsssively in- 
vaded by the Syrians, the Moabites, Ammonites, and Edom- 
ites : who, however, were severally defeated and driven off by 
Jeroboam, encouraged by the prophet Jonah (B. C. 823). Jero- 
boam reigned forty-one years. During this reign the Lord be- 
gan by his prophets to warn the Israelites of the doom of cap- 
tivity and dispersion, which their crimes would speedily bring 
down upon them. The prophets were Hosea, Amos, and Jo- 
nah. 

10. The reign of Jeroboam was followed by an interregnum 
of eleven years, occasioned probably by the infancy of his son 
Zechariah. It was at this period that the prophet Jonah was 
sent on his reluctant mission to Nineveh, of which an interest- 
ing account is given in the book that bears his name. During 
the interregnum, the country fell into such a state of confusion, 
that at length the remedy was adopted of calling Zechariah to 
the throne of his fathers. 

11. Zechariah, the last king of the race of Jehu, wielded the 


ZECHARIAH AND SHALLI7M. 


125 


b. c. 771.] 

sceptre of Israel only six months. He was not equal to the 
emergencies of the times, and was put to death by one Shallum, 
who usurped the government. Thus endured as promised, and 
ended as foretold, the dynasty of Jehu. 

12. During the period embraced by this chapter, the prophets 
Jonah, Amos, and Hosea, flourished and prophesied. Jonah ap- 
pears to have lived in the time of Jeroboam IT. : he was a na- 
tive of Gath-hepher, in Zebulon. The book which bears his 
name is occupied by a narrative of his mission to Nineveh, to 
warn that.great city of an impending destruction, which was 
averted by the repentance and humiliation of its inhabitants. 
Amos belonged to the same time : he was a dresser of sycamore 
fruit, and began to prophesy at Bethel ; but being driven thence 
by Amaziah, the high- priest of the golden calf, he retired to Te- 
koah in Judah, and found employment as a herdsman. It is 
from this place that his written prophecies are dated. They 
are replete with images drawn from the objects in rural life, with 
which his avocations made him conversant; and their object is 
to denounce the destruction of the surrounding nations ; to alarm 
the negligent by the declaration of national punishments ; and 
to hold forth comforting promises of the future Messiah. Ho- 
sea lived at the same time with Amos, but appears to have sur- 
vived him. Little is known of his history ; but he is supposed 
to have been of the kingdom of Israel, as his denunciations of 
vengeance mixed with promises of mercy, are chiefly directed 
against the iniquities into which the ten tribes had fallen. 


CHAPTER VI. Judah from 1809 to 696. 


JUDAH. 

B. c. 

Uzziah or Azariah, 
king, . . . • 809 

Jotham, king, ' • 757 
Ahaz, king, . * . 741 
Hezekiah, king, . 72o 
Hezekiah dies, . 696 
A hi tub II., high- 
priest, . • • 800 

Zadok II., high- 
riest, . • • 771 

e prophets Isaiah, 
Nahum, Micah,Ha- 
bakkuk, flourish af- 
ter Uzziah. 


ISRAEL. 

b. c. 

First Interregnum, 783 
Zechariah and Shal- 
lum, kings, . . 771 

Menahem, king, . 770 
Pekahiah, king, . 760 
Pekah, king . . 758 
Second Interreg- 
num, .... 738 
Hoshea, king, . 729 
Samaria taken, . 721 


GENERAL HISTORY. 

B. C 

Agamestor, 11th Ar- 
chon of Athens, 800 
Aeschylus, 12th Ar- 
chon of Athens, 778 
iEra of the 1st 
Olympiad, . . 776 
Ephori commences 
in Lacedemon, 760 
Decennial Archons 
begin at Athens, 754 
Rome founded, . 753 


1. In Judah, Uzziah, otherwise called Azariah, was but five 
years old when his father was slain. He was sixteen before he 
L* 


126 


UZZIAH. 


[b. c. 809. 

was formally called to the throne : and it is disputed by chron- 
ologers, whether to count the fifty-two years of his reign from 
the beginning or from the end of the eleven intervening years. 
In the first half of his reign, this king behaved well, and was 
mindful of his true place as viceroy of the Divine King. He 
accordingly prospered in all his undertakings. His arms were 
successful against the Philistines, the Arabians, and the Am- 
monites. He restored and fortified the walls of Jerusalem, and 
planted on them engines of defence, for discharging arrows and 
great stones ; he organized the military force of the nation into 
a kind of militia, composed of 307, 500 men, under the command of 
2600 chiefs, and divided into bands liable to be called out in rota- 
tion ; for these he provided vast stores of all kinds of weapons 
and armour, — spears, shields, helmets, breastplates, bows, and 
slings. 

2. Nor were the arts of peace neglected hy king Uzziah : he 
loved and fostered agriculture ; and he also dug wells, and con- 
structed towers in the desert, for the use of the flocks. At 
length, when he had consolidated and extended his power, and 
developed the internal resources of his country, Uzziah fell. His 
prosperity engendered the pride which became his ruin. In 
the twenty-fourth year of his reign, incited probably by the ex- 
ample of the neighbouring kings, who united the regal and 
pontifical functions, Uzziah, unmindful of the fate of Dathan 
and Abiram, dared to attempt the exercise of one of the princi- 
pal functions of the priests, by entering the holy place to bum 
incense at the golden altar. But, in the very act, he was smit- 
ten with leprosy, and was thrust forth by the priests. He con- 
tinued a leper all the rest of his life, and lived apart as such, — 
the public functions of the government being administered by 
his son Jotham, as soon as he became of sufficient age. His 
whole reign was fifty-two years, being, with the sole exception 
of Manasseh’s, the longest in the Hebrew annals. In this 
reign Isaiah began to prophesy in Judah. 

3. Jotham was a meritorious prince, and prospered accord- 
ingly. He repelled an invasion of the Ammonites, and laid 
them under a yearly tribute ; and he built various cities, castles, 
and towers, in different parts of his dominions. Besides the 
time he acted as regent during the leprosy of his father, Jotham 
reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem. 

4. Ahaz, then twenty years old, ascended the throne. He 
proved an unworthy son of a good father, being equally forget- 
ful of his allegiance to the Lord as his King, and of his reverence 
to him as his God. He apostatized not only to the idolatries 
of the surrounding heathen, but to that of the golden calves. 
He erected images and altars to various idols in different parts 
of Jerusalem, and adopted all the horrid rites by which their 
worship was celebrated. So intense was the passion of this 
Jurincefor idolatry, that it rather resembled the insatiate craving 
of a drunkard than the reverence of a worshipper. The Syrian 


AHAZ. 


127 


b. c. 741.] 

idolatry appears to have been that which he most admired ; for 
he introduced the idols and altars of that country, and altered 
the temple and its services after the model of those of Damas- 
cus. At length he shut up the sacred building altogether. To 
punish him for these crimes, his kingly slate was brought very 
low. In the early part of his reign, a formidable confederacy 
was formed against him by Pekah king of Israel, andRezin king 
of Syria, with the fixed intention of dethroning the house of 
David, and of bestowing the crown on some person whom we 
only know as “ Tabeal’s son.” In this war, Rezin stripped Ju- 
dah of its external territories, and carried away great numbers 
of Jews as captives to Damascus. Pekah was equally success- 
ful: he slew in one day 120,000 men of Judah, and carried 
away 200,000 as captives to Samaria. But he was induced to 
treat them well, and send them back again, at the instance of 
the prophet Obed and other prophets of influence, who refused 
to hold their brethren in bondage, and were in this supported 
by public feeling in Israel. This shews that, after all, the 
separation had not produced an exasperated state of feeling be- 
tween the nations. After this, the allies besieged Jerusalem, 
but were unable to take it; while the general distress was 
aggravated by the incursions of the Edomites on the south and 
the Philistines on the west, who took several cities and villages 
in the low country, and settled in them. 

5. In this extremity, Ahaz sought the assistance of Tiglath- 
pileser, the king of Assyria, to whom he sent an embassy, de- 
claring himself his vassal, and bearing a subsidy of all the 
sacred and the royal treasures. Glad of a pretext for interference, 
Tiglath-pileser readily promised the assistance thus required. 
Accordingly, he defeated and slew the king of Syria, and took 
possession of his dominions ; he also made himself master of all 
the Hebrew possessions beyond Jordan, and sent away captive, 
into Assyria and Media, the three tribes — Reuben, Gad, and 
Manasseh.* Ahaz visited the Assyrian king at Damascus, to 
congratulate him, and to render him homage. He found, how- 
ever, that although temporarily relieved from an imminent dan- 
ger, he had little cause to rejoice in the result. He had become 
the tributary of a foreign power ; and instead of a rival, he had 
now a powerful and overbearing master for his neighbour. Little 
is known of his future reign, except that he persisted in his old 
courses, and lived, it would seem, under the odium of the whole 
nation for having been the apparent cause of the captivity into 
which three tribes of Israel had fallen. When, therefore, he 
died, after an inglorious and disastrous reign of sixteen years, 
he was refused a place in the royal sepulchres, although a 
grave in Jerusalem was allowed him. In this reign Micah de- 

* There was only half of Manasseh beyond Jordan ; but the king of As- 
syria completed the tribe for captivity, by adding the other half which was 
west of the Jordan, 


HEZEKIAH. 


128 


[e. c. 725 . 


livered the prophecy contained in the book which bears his 
name. 

6. Hezekiah, the son of Ahaz, was twenty-five years old 
when he ascended the throne. In all respects his character 
was the very reverse of that of his father, entitling him to rank 
as one of the very best kings of David’s line ; indeed, the Scrip- 
ture seems to give him the preference to them all (2 Kings, 
xviii. 5.) The characteristics of a good king under the Hebrew 
system of government have been so often mentioned, that it is 
scarcely needful to repeat that they consisted in a faithful obe- 
dience to the revealed will of God, first, in his general char- 
acter, as Creator and sole Lord of the Universe ; secondly, in 
his more particular character, as the God who had made 
Israel his chosen people, and to whom, therefore, he was a 
national God, as distinguished from the national gods of the 
heathen around; and, thirdly, in the still more intimate charac- 
ter of the actual King and political Head of the nation, and who, 
as being incapable of error, exacted and was en tided to the 
most unlimited and confiding obedience. In all these charac- 
ters Hezekiah understood him ; and hence he also understood his 
own true position in the state. The first act of his reign was 
to open and purify the temple, and to extirpate all the idolatries 
which his father had sanctioned or introduced. He even went 
so far as to destroy the brazen serpent of Moses, which had 
been preserved as a memorial, the people having manifested a 
disposition to burn incense to it as a holy relic. 

7. This conduct of Hezekiah was rewarded by prosperity in 
all his undertakings. He subdued the Philistines ; and at length 
ventured to withhold the yearly tribute which his father had 
agreed to pay to the Assyrians. Shalmaneser, the son and suc- 
cessor of Tiglathpileser, was too much occupied in other quar- 
ters to pay much attention to Hezekiah ; but in the sixth 
year of his reign, he carried away into captivity the flower of 
the seven tribes of Israel on the west side of Jordan, thus com- 
pleting the ruin of the ten tribes. This event appears to have 
made a salutary impression on Judah, and probably afforded 
much aid to Hezekiah in his reformations. These were 
more radical than any former kings, however well disposed, 
had thought necessary; for Hezekiah not only abolished idola- 
try and restored the worship of God, but he revived The nation- 
al observances, which had been altogether neglected in former 
reigns, — such as the passover, which he celebrated at Jerusalem 
with greater solemnity than had been observed since the time 
of Solomon. Not only his own subjects, but the desolate rem- 
nants of the ten tribes were invited to this great feast ; many of 
whom came, but others mocked and refused. 

8. At length the Assyrians, having subdued the small na- 
tions between the Mediterranean and the Euphrates, found lei- 
sure to call Hezekiah to account for his arrears of tribute. Shal- 
maneser was dead, and had been succeeded by his son Senna- 


HEZEKIAH. 


129 


b. c. 710.] 

cherib, who invaded Judah with a mighty host. Hezekiah, 
disappointed of assistance which he had expected from Egypt, 
did not consider it safe to attempt to oppose him ; but made his 
intercessions, and offered to furnish any tribute which the As- 
syrian might think proper to impose. He accordingly paid 
the heavy ransom of three hundred talents of silver and thirty 
talents of gold, although this obliged him not only to exhaust the 
sacred and the royal treasures, but to strip off the gold which 
covered the doors and pillars of the temple. Sennacherib took 
the money, and went towards Egypt, which he intended next 
to invade ; but on the way he changed his mind and resolved 
not to leave unbroken in his rear a power so well inclined to 
ally itself with the Egyptians. He therefore took the strong 
towns of the south ; and, while he laid siege to Libnah and 
Lachish, sent his general Rabshakeh against Jerusalem. The 
language which this man used in summoning Hezekiah to sur- 
render, was in the highest degree offensive and blasphemous. 
Hezekiah, with humble confidence, referred the matter to God, 
and was answered by the promise of deliverance. Accordingly, 
a rumour reached Sennacherib that Tirhakah the Ethiopian, 
king of Upper Egypt, was marching with an immense army to 
cut off his retreat ; so that he deemed it prudent to abandon his 
operations, but not without sending a boastful and threatening 
letter to Hezekiah respecting his future intentions. But the 
very night after, the Assyrian host of 180,000 were destroyed 
by “ a blast,” which may be understood to have been the simoom , 
or hot pestilential wind which sometimes blows in those re- 
gions. The baffled tyrant hastened home to Nineveh, where he 
behaved with great severity to the captive Israelites. But 
his career was short ; for, seven weeks after his return, he was 
slain by his own sons while worshipping in the temple of Nis- 
roc, the great idol of the Assyrians. The parricides fled, and 
left the throne open to their younger brother Esarhaddon. 

9. The same year Hezekiah was taken ill, apparently with 
the plague ; and was warned by the prophet Isaiah to prepare 
for death. But he so fervently and devoutly prayed for his re- 
covery, that the prophet was sent back with a second message, 
promising a prolongation of his life for fifteen years. To as- 
sure him that his recovery was indeed miraculous, and not “ a 
chance,” and to give confidence in the promise, a token was 
given in the going backward of the sun’s shadow ten degrees, 
as measured by the sun-dial of Ahaz. 

10. The great loss which the Assyrians had sustained in 
Palestine, enabled the governor of Babylon, Merodach-baladan, 
to declare himself independent ; and he naturally desired to form 
amicable relations with the monarch in whose dominions As- 
syria had been so much disabled. To congratulate Hezekiah 
on his recovery, and to inquire concerning the attendant mira- 
cle, were, however, the ostensible objects of the embassy which 
the Babylonians sent to Jerusalem. Highly flattered by such 


130 


SACRED WRITERS. 


[b. c. 710. 

an embassy from so distant a quarter, Hezekiah forgot his usual 
discretion, and to convince the .ambassadors of his importance, 
and that he was a desirable ally, he made to them a very osten- 
tatious display of his treasures and armouries. Because he had 
indulged in vainglory, instead of referring all his power and 
glory to that Divine King who had cared for and protected him 
and his people, the Lord was displeased ; and the prophet Isaiah 
was commissioned to warn him, and to humble him by the in- 
timation that the day was coming when all the treasure which 
he and his fathers had laid up should be spoil for the Babylon- 
ians, and when his descendants should be servants in the palace 
of the king of Babylon. The remainder of his own reign, how- 
ever, which lasted for twenty -nine years, was peaceful and 
prosperous. 

11. Sacred Writers . — The prophet Joel is generally suppos- 
ed to have delivered his predictions during the reign of Uzziah; 
but his whole history is perfectly unknown, and it is even un- 
certain whether he belonged to the kingdom of Judah or Israel. 
In nervous and animated language, be endeavours to awaken 
the people to repentance, by announcing the devastation of their 
fields, and consequent famine, as the punishment of their sins. 
In Hie reign of Hezekiah, several eminent prophets flourished, 
some of whom, however, had begun to prophecy before his reign. 
At the head of them, and indeed of all the prophets, stands 
Isaiah, whose name has more than once occurred in the history. 
We know little of him, except that he was the son of one Amos, 
and that he discharged the prophe.ic office in the reigns of Uz- 
ziah, Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah, before the last of whom he 
probably died ; although there is Jewish tradition which alleges 
that he survived to the time of Manasseh, by whose order he 
was sawn asunder. His prophetic ministry, therefore, extends 
over the whole period which also embraced the prophets 
Amos, Hoshea, Joel, and Micah. His extensive predictions 
embrace every matter in which the Jews or their neighbours 
were interested. They are delivered with marvellous sublimi- 
ty of thought and language, especially in those portions in 
which he foretells the advent of the Messiah, and the circum- 
stances attending his birth, his ministry, his death, and ultimate 
glory of his kingdom. Micah prophesied in the reigns of 
Jotham, Ahaz, and Hezekiah. He was a native of Morasthi, 
a small town in the southern part of Judah ; and this is 
all we know of him. His prophecies relate to both the king- 
doms, which he invites to repentance by threatenings and pro- 
mises. He also spoke of the Messiah, and named Bethlehem as 
the place of his birth. Nahum appears to have prophesied in 
the time of Hezekiah, and not long after the subversion 6f ihe 
kingdom of Israel by Shalmaneser. The principal object of his 
prophecy is to declare the future downfal of that great Assyrian 
power by which Israel had lately been desolated, and to which 
Judah was tributary. 


131 


I 


CHAPTER Vn. B. C. 771 to 721. 


ISRAEL. 


ASSYRIA. 


EGYPT. 


Shallum, . . 771 

Men ahem, . . 770 

Pekaiah, . . 760 

Pekah, . . . 759 

Second Interregnum, 739 
Hoshea, . . 730 

Samaria taken, . 721 

Nahum the prophet, 713 
Micah, . . . 750 

JUDAH. 

Jotham, . , 757 

Ahaz, . . .741 

Hezekiah, . . 725 

Dies, . . . 696 


B. c. | 

New Dynasty, . 321 
Pul or Belus II., . 790 
Invades Israel, . 770 
Tiglath-pileser, . 747 
Invades Israel, . 740] 
Shalmaneser, . 729, 

BABYLON. 

Nabonassar, . 747 
Nadius, . . 733 

Chiuzirus . .731 

Jugaeus, . . 726 

Merodach-baladan, 721 
These are viceroys un- 
der Assyria, up to and 
beyond this time. 


b. c. 

Sabaco, or Sebechon,723 
Tirhakah (Ethioa- 
pin,) . . .710 

GENERAL HISTORY. 

Tatius,kingof Rome, 745 
First recorded ecliipse 
of the moon, March 
19th, . . .720 


1. In Israel, Shallum did not long retain the power he had 
acquired by the death of Zechariah, the last of Jehu's house. — 
He was in his turn assassinated by Menahem, about a month 
after he ascended the throne. 

2. But the act of Menaham was not sanctioned by public 
opinion, and the nation generally refused to acknowledge his 
authority. The land was thus distracted by internal commo- 
tions, when the Assyrians first made their appearance in these 
parts, under Pul their king, the father of Tiglath-pileser. This 
conqueror was advancing to invade Israel, when Menahem 
made submission to him, and, by the payment of one thousand 
talents of silver, procured his assistance against his refractory 
subjects. Menahem exercised with great barbarity the power 
he had thus acquired by foreign help; and the heavy annual 
tribute which he had engaged to pay the Assyrians in some de- 
gree compelled him to extort large sums of money from the 
people. The kings of Israel had no sacred treasury to draw 
from like those of Judah; and in eastern countries, where there 
is no regular system of finance, extraordinary demands are met 
by the exaction of large contributions in money from those who 
are supposed to be in possession of wealth. Israel was thus in 
a most miserable condition. The land became impoverished ; 
the people were in a stafe of exasperation ; and the Assyrians, 
having so largely profited by the invasion of Israel, were ready 
to avail themselves of any pretext for repeating the experiment. 
The state of religion and morals corresponded with this external 
condition. With the rapid growth of idolatry, and the neglect 


132 


EXTINCTION OF THE KINGDOM OF ISRAEL, [b. C. 721 - 

of that religious system which was the true glory of the nation 
the people lost all love for the good and the beautiful, and gave 
themselves up to the grossest abominations that the heart of 
man can conceive. It was evident that the nation was ripening 
fast for that destruction which the prophets had foretold. Af- 
ter a troubled reign of ten years, Menahem died. 

3. Pekahiah, his son, reigned two years, and was then put 
to death by Pekah, the commander of the forces. 

4. Pekah then ascended the throne. The principal 
events of this reign were those which arose from the alli- 
ance of Pekah with Rezin, king of Syria, against Ahaz king of 
Judah, as related in the preceding chapter. Pekah was victo- 
rious in this war, which induced Ahaz to apply to Tiglath-pile- 
ser, the son of Pul, king of Assyria, who cameand chastized the 
belligerents into quietness, after which he removed the tribes 
beyond Jordan to Media and Assyria. After a reign of twenty 
years, Pekah was slain by Hoshea. 

5. Ten years of the most cruel anarchy elapsed before Ho- 
shea was able to establish himself on the throne. About this 
time the Egyptians became seriously alarmed at the progress 
of the Assyrians in their neighbourhood ; and So or Sabaco, the 
king of Egypt, adopted the policy of procuring employment for 
them elsewhere, to avert their attention from his own country. 
To this end he induced Hoshea in Israel, and Hezekiah in Ju- 
dah, by insincere promises of support, to hold back the tribute 
they had paid to the Assyrians. This soon brought Shalman- 
eser, the son of Tiglath-pileser, with a mighty host into Pales- 
tine. Having easily subdued the country, he advanced to lay 
siege to the metropolis, in which Hoshea had shut himself with 
the remnant of his forces. It was not taken until the third 
year, and in the interval the inhabitants endured great priva- 
tion and distress. At length it fell ; and Shalmaneser extin- 
guished the kingdom of Israel, and sent Hoshea in chains to 
JNineveh. Thus perished the kingdom of Israel, which was 
annexed to the Assyrian crown under an Assyrian governor, af- 
ter it had endured, as a separate state, 271 years, under seven- 
teen kings. 

The king of Assyria adopted the policy which appears to have 
been usually followed in those times with regard to such coun- 
tries or provinces as the conqueror designed to incorporate with 
his own dominions. The flower of the nation, composed of all 
who were distinguished for their rank and wealth, for their abil- 
ities or personal qualifications, and for their knowledge of arms 
and useful arts, were taken away to the region beyond the Eu- 
phrates, in which the three tribes carried off by Tiglath-pileser 
were already settled. Their place was partly supplied by the 
inhabitants of other conquered countries in distant parts. In the 
present case, the new settlers in Israel were brought from the 
region of the Lower Tigris and Euphrates; and being intended 
merely to keep the land occupied, were a far less numerous and 


133 


B. C. 721 .] SETTLEMENT OF THE SAMAEATANS. 

valuable population than that which they had displaced. This 
design was more fully worked out by Esharhaddon, the son of 
Sennacherib, who gleaned the remnant left in the land, and sub- 
stituted other foreigners. The new comers gradually combin- 
ed with the dregs of the Israelites who remained in the country, 
and the population thus formed took the name of Samaritans 
from the city of Samaria. They were all idolaters; but. accor- 
ding to the notions of local and national deities which then pre- 
vailed, they deemed themselves bound to know something of 
“ the god of the country” in which they had settled. This know- 
ledge they obtained from a priest who fixed his residence at 
Bethel ; and the result was, that they combined the worship of 
the true God with that of their own idols. Very gradually, 
however, their system purified itself from the idolatrous dross, 
and the Samaritans at length rested in a system of belief as pure 
as that of the Jews, although less regular in some of its obser- 
vances. In some respects their creed may have been the purer 
of the two, seeing that it was based entirely upon the Books of 
Moses, whereas that of the Jews became encumbered with a 
great mass of oral traditions. 

7. As henceforth the Jews only, that is, the inhabitants of the 
Kingdom of Judah, have historical existence, it may be well to 
offer a few concluding remarks regarding the ten tribes, who 
were earlier brought under the yoke of bondage by the Assy- 
rians. They were settled in Assyria and Media, and nothing of 
tbeir further history is known. Much, however, has been con- 
jectured ; and their destiny has often been made a subject of en- 
quiry and dispute. Many believe that they are destined to take 
part in those purposes of divine mercy for which their brethren 
of Judah and Benjamin have been kept for so many ages separ- 
ate and apart among the nations, a wonder and a byword in them 
all. In this belief they have sought for them, and have found 
in various countries, and under a variety of disguising circum- 
stances, races or tribes of men whom, from analogous customs, 
rites, and features, they have supposed to be descendants of the 
ten tribes. Such have been found in Asia, Europe, and Amer- 
ica, among heathens, Moslems, Jews, and Christians. All these 
identifications cannot be true ; and there are none of them 
which quite satisfy the mind, for many of the analogies rest on 
circumstances which belong to the Israelites, not as the sons of 
Abraham, but only as Orientals. 

8. It is to be borne in mind that the land of Israel was not al- 
together divested of its inhabitants, as many of the poorer peo- 
ple were allowed to remain. Then, also, the proclamation of 
Cyrus, under which the Jews eventually returned to build again 
their city and temple, was addressed not to the tribes of Judah 
and Benjamin alone, but to all the people of Jehovah (Ezra, i. 
1 — 3) ; and being proclaimed throughout the Persian empire, 
which included the former dominions of Assyria, it is probable 
that not a few of the ten tribes were induced to return to Pales- 

M 


134 AMALGAMATION OF THE TRIBES. [b. C. 721. 

tine. Those who were inclined to remove, would naturally at- 
tach themselves here and there to a caravan of merchants, and 
return to the land of their fathers. But as they arrived one af- 
ter another, in small parties; no mention of their return could be 
expected in a history so concise. There might have been Is- 
raelites in the great caravan of Zerrubbabel ; and at all events, it 
is more than probable that most of them returned when they 
heard of the prosperity of their brethren in Palestine. At what- 
ever time it may have been, it is certain that many did return ; 
for the history mentions Israelites as settled in Galilee ana Pereea 
before the time of Christ. (1 Macc. v. 9 — 24.) But connecting 
themselves with the tribe of Judah, they finally lost the dis- 
tinctive name of Israelites, and all the Hebrews were indis- 
criminately designated as Jews. 

9. Something similar may very safely be supposed to have 
occurred beyond the Euphrates, where a very large proportion 
of the Judahites thought proper to remain. It is likely that 
still greater numbers of the Israelites, who had lived in these 
countries two centuries longer, would feel little inclination to 
exchange the comforts they had accumulated for the prospects 
which Palestine offered. But as the old jealousy between Ju- 
dah and Israel had by this time ceased, those Israelites who re- 
mained east of the Euphrates joined themselves to the tribe of 
Judah, which was in possession of the Temple, and consequent- 
ly they too received the name of Jews. If this view as to the 
amalgamation of the ten with the two tribes rests upon better 
grounds than that which reserves for the former a separate ex- 
istence, all inquiry after “ the lost tribes” must needs be super- 
fluous. 


CHAPTER VIII. B. C. 698 to 588. 


JUDAH. 

Manasseh, . 
Judah invaded by 
the Assyrians, . 
Amou, . 

Josiah, . 

Jehoahaz, 
Jehoiakim, 
Jehoiachin, 
Zedekiah, 
Jerusalem taken, 

PROPHETS. 

Zephaniah, 
Jeremiah, 
Habakkuk, 

Daniel, . 

Ezekiel, 

Obadiah, 
mm 

EGYPT. 

Tirhakah, . 

The twelve kings. 
Psammitichus (Psa- 
matik I.) . 

Necho II., . 
Psammitichus (Psa- 
matik) II., 
Apries (Psamatik 
III.) Pharaoh Ho- 
phra, 


b. c. 
698 

674 

643 

641 

610 

610 

59S 

598 

588 


ASSYRIA. 

B. C. 

Esarhaddon, . . 710 

Medesand Babyloni- 
ans revolt, . . 710 

Babylon regained, 680 
Ninus III. . . 667 

Nebuchadonozor, . 658 
Sarac or Sardanapa- 
lus II. . . 606 

Nineveh taken by 
the Medes and 
Babylonians, . 606 


630 BABYLON. 

628 Apronadius, . . 699 

607 Regibelus . . 693 

603 Misoessimordak, . 692 

594 Interregnum, . 688 

587 Asaradm or Esarhad- 
don (of Assyria,) 680 
Saosduchin, . . 667 

689 Chyniladen, . . 647 

Nabopolassar, . 647 

Labynetus I., . 625 

664 

610 BABYLONIAN EMPIRE. 

Nebuchadnezzar, . 606 
600 Evil-merodach, . 561 

MEDES. 

596 Revolt from Assyria, 710 
Dejoces or Artaeus, 703 
Phraortes, . . 663 

Cyaxares I., . „ 60S 

Astyages, . . 601 


GENERAL HISTORY. 

B. C. 

Creon, first Annual 
Archon of Athens, 6S4 
Tyrtoeus, the poet, 684 
Terpander, the poet, 675 
Tullus Hostilius,king 
of Rome, . . 672 

Byzantium built, . 658 
Ancus Martius, king 
of Rome, . . 640 

Thrasybulus, tyrant 
of Miletus, . 634 
Kingdom and city of 
Cyrcne founded, 630 
Periander, tyrant of 
Corinth, - - 639 

Draco, lawgiver of 
Athens, . . 624 

Tarquinius Priscus, 
king of Rome, . 610 
Alcaeus, the poet, • 607 
Sappho, the poetess, 600 
Solon, lawgiver of 
Athens, . . 594 

Thales of Miletus, 594 
The Pythian games 
i stituted, • * 594 

Anacharsis the Scy- 
thian. « 590 


1. Manasseh, the son of Hezekiah, was but twelve years old 
when his father died. Wicked counsellors corrupted his youth. 
They imbued his mind with the worst principles of religion and 
government, and brought him up in a settled dislike to the 
wholesome reformations of his father, which he seemed to make 
it the business of his life to subvert. Whatever God declared 
to be most repugnant to him — whatever good men the most ab- 
hor — were the very objects of his depraved choice and appetite. 
He not only built altars for all the heavenly bodies, but set up 
an idol in the very sanctuary of God, which no one had hitherto 
dared to profane ; he devoted his children to Moloch, by making 
them pass through the tire in the valley of Hinnom ; and the 


136 


JOSIAH. 


[b. c. 641. 

people, depraved by his example, became in all respects far 
worse than the Canaanites, who had been rootea out to make 
room for them. The righteous few, who still remained faithful 
to the truth, were grievously persecuted ; and injustice and crime 
were at this time so rampant, that innocent blood flowed abun- 
dantly in Jerusalem. Even the prophets, whom God sent to 
warn the apostate king were not spared ; and it is believed that 
the great prophet Isaiah was by his order sawn asunder. 

2. The threatened doom was at length inflicted. By the 
twenty-second year of his reign, Esarhaddon, king of Assyria, 
had repaired the losses which the death of Sennacherib had oc- 
casioned. Having invaded Palestine, he removed the remnant 
which lingered upon the mountains of Israel, and dispatched his 
generals against Jerusalem. The city was taken ; and Manas- 
seh was sent in chains to Babylon, which the Assyrians had re- 
covered, where he was thrown into a dungeon. There he had 
leisure for thought ; and the remembrance of what he had been, 
of what he had lost, and how he had lost it, tilled him with 
poignant sorrow. At length his heart was softened ; he wept, 
and turned repentingly to God, from whom he had revolted. 
God heard the moaning of the prisoner, and had pity upon him, 
and forgave him, and inclined the heart of the successor of Esar- 
haddon to restore him to his kingdom. The remainder of his 
reign was good, and he found ample employment in undoing all 
that he had before done. His reign of fifty-five years was the 
longest that had occurred in either Judah or Israel. 

3. Amon, his son, succeeded at the age of twenty-two years. 
But although brought up in the best days of his father, he fol- 
lowed the example of the worst. He was slain in a conspiracy 
by his own servants, after a short reign of two years. 

4. Josiah was only eight years old when the people, after ha- 
ving punished the murderers of his father, made him king. His 
guardianship devolved upon the high priest, who bestowed upon 
him an education worthy of a king. Josiah began very early to 
manifest the good dispositions and excellent character which 
distinguished his reign. As early as the age of twelve he inter- 
ested himself in seeing Jerusalem purged of the idolatries which 
his father had in his short r eign introduced. Afterwards he 
conducted this expurgation in person, not only in his own do- 
minions, but throughout the territories which had belonged to 
Ephraim, Manasseh, Zebulun, and Naphtali. On this occasion 
he executed the sentence against the altar at Bethel, denounced 
to the first Jeroboam three hundred and fifty years before, when 
Josiah had been appointed to the work by name. 

5. In the eighteenth year of his reign, the temple was put in 
complete order and repair. In the course of these labours, the 
original book of the law, as written by the hand of Moses, and 
deposited beside the ark, was discovered by Hilkah the high- 
priest. From this venerable copy the prophecies of Moses, fore- 
telling the desolation of the land and the ruin of the temple, were 


JEHOAHAZ. 


137 


B. c. 610.] 

read to the king. With intense concern Josiah rent his clothes, 
and sent to the prophetess Huldah to ask how these things were 
to be understood. She confirmed the denunciation, and said that 
the threatened evils were near at hand ; but added that the good 
king himself should be removed from this world before they 
came. The same year the king celebrated a great passover, 
such as had not been in any former reign. In short, no king 
surpassed, or perhaps equalled Josiah in well-directed zeal for 
the Lord, and in efforts to extirpate idolatry and restore the true 
religion. 

6. In tne year 606, B. C., Nineveh was besieged by the Medes 
and Babylonians, who had revolted from Assyria. Taking ad- 
vantage of these affairs, the king of Egypt marched an army to 
possess himself of Carchemish, an important pass of the Euphra- 
tes. He marched through Palestine. But Josiah, as a tributary 
to the Assyrians, felt himself bound to oppose his passage. He 
was defeated, and mortally wounded in a battle at Megiddo, and 
soon after died at Jerusalem, sincerely lamented by all his peo- 
ple, and bewailed by the prophet Jeremiah. He left three sons, 
Eliakim, Jehoahaz or Shallum, and Zedekiah. 

7. Jehoahaz or Shallum, the second of these sons, was elected 
king by the people. We know not the cause of this preference, 
which was very little justified by his conduct during the three 
months of his reign, in which he manifested a disposition to imi- 
tate the worst of his predecessors. At the end of the three 
months, Necho returned triumphant from the Euphrates, and 
came to Jerusalem to reap the fruits of his victory at Megiddo. 
He laid on the city a heavy tribute, and deposed Jehoahaz, and 
carried him away captive into Egypt where he died. Necho 
bestowed the crown on Josiah’s eldest son, Eliakim, whose name 
he changed to Jehoiakim, in token of subjection. 

8. Jehoiakim was twenty- five years old when he ascended 
the throne as the vassal of Egypt. He trod in the footsteps of 
his idolatrous predecessors, and the people imitated his exam- 
ple. The Babylonians wished to succeed to the western empire 
of the Assyrians, and not to destroy it. Nabopolassar, the king 
of Babylon, while besieging Nineveh, beheld, therefore, with 
displeasure the disturbances west of the Euphrates, and sent his 
son Nebuchadnezzar to reduce the provinces to obedience. In 
this he succeeded, and Jehoiakim, among the rest, became his 
vassal, and continued so for three years. During this time 
Nineveh was taken, and Nabopolassar, dying soon after, 
was succeeded by his son Nebuchadnezzar. While the atten- 
tion of the new monarch was otherwise engaged, Jehoiakim 
had the temerity to revolt from him. To this he was probably 
persuaded by the king of Egypt, who undertook a second expe- 
dition against Carchemish, which Nebuchadnezzar had recover- 
ed. He was defeated by the Babylonian, and stripped of all 
his possessions between the Euphrates and the Nile. Nebu- 
chadnezzar then besieged and took Jerusalem; and among 

M* 


138 


ZEDEKIAH. 


[e. c. 598 

other spoil, carried away a portion of the sacred vessels of the 
temple, which he lodged in the temple of Belus at Babylon. 
Certain of the royal family and of the nobles were also taken 
away as hostages for the fidelity of the king and people. Among 
these were the prophet Daniel and his companions. Upon the 
whole Nebuchadnezzar behaved more leniently than might 
have been expected, owing, probably, to a desire of maintaining 
Judah, if possible, as a frontier state between himself and 
Egypt. He did not even depose Jehoiakim, who, uncorrected 
by adversity, proved the same remorseless tyrant, regardless of 
God and man. It does not appear that he again revolted, but 
after some years his conduct appeared so displeasing to the king 
of Babylon, who was then in the north of Syria, that he sent a 
number of local auxiliaries against him. They took him priso- 
ner and carried him to Nebuchadnezzar, who put him in fetters, 
and designed to take him to Babylon. But he first proceeded 
with him to Jerusalem, where he died. 

9. On Nebuchadnezzar’s arrival at Jerusalem, he was little 
pleased to find that, without consulting him, the people had in 
in the meantime raised to the throne Jehoiachin (or Jeconiah or 
Coniah), the son of Johoiakim. This prince, in the brief inter- 
val of three months, had found time to evince the most depraved 
dispositions. He surrendered to Nebuchadnezzar, and was taken 
to Babylon, where he spent the rest of his days. Nebuchadnez- 
zar made Zedekiah, the third son of Josiah, king; but left him 
a much impoverished kingdom. All the portable wealth that 
could be found in the palace or the temple, was seized and sent 
off to Babylon ; and along with the deposed, were taken away 
all the persons of note, and all the skilful craftsmen of the king- 
dom. 

10. In appointing Zedekiah to the throne, Nebuchadnezzar ex- 
acted from him a very solemn oath of allegiance. Accordingly, 
when in the fourth year of his reign, the kings of Edom, Moab, 
Ammon, and Tyre invited him to join in a confederacy to shake 
off the Babylonian yoke, he would not listen to their proposals. 
Zedekiah set an example of iniquity to his people which they 
willingly followed. They were rapidly ripening for the de- 
struction which had been so long foretold; and which was 
brought about by means of the revolt of Zedekiah from the king 
of Babylon, in the ninth year of his reign. This step was ta- 
ken in reliance upon Pharaoh Hophra’, king of Egypt, in spite of 
the earnest remonstrances of Jeremiah, who repeatedly, and in 
the face of cruel treatment, warned both the king and people, 
that their only hope of safety and quiet lay in their adhesion 
to Nebuchadnezzar. 

11. In'consequence of this revolt, the Babylonian king inva- 
ded Judea with a great army, and, after taking most of the 
principal towns, sat down before Jerusalem. Early in the next 
year, the Egyptians marched an army to the relief of their ally ; 
but being intimidated by the alacrity with which the Babylo- 


JERUSALEM TAKEN. 


139 


b , c. 588.] 

nians raised the siege and advanced to give them battle, they 
returned home without risking an engagement. The return of 
the Chaldeans to the siege, destroyed all the hopes which the 
approach of the Egyptian succours had excited. The siege was 
now prosecuted with redoubled vigour ; and at length Jerusa- 
lem was taken by storm at midnight, in the eleventh year of 
Zedekiah, and in the eighteenth month from the commence- 
ment of the seige. Dreadful was the carnage. The people, 
young and old, were slaughtered wherever they appeared ; and 
even the temple was no refuge for them : the sacred courts 
streamed with blood. Zedekiah himself, with his family and 
some friends, contrived to escape from the city ; but he was 
overtaken and captured in the plains of Jericho. He was sent 
in chains to Nebuchadnezzar, who had left the conclusion of the 
war to his generals, and was then at Riblah in Syria. After 
sternly reproving him for his ungrateful conduct, the conqueror 
ordered all the sons of Zedekiah to be slain before his eyes, and 
then his own eyes to be put out, thus making the slaughter of 
his children the last sight on which his tortured memory could 
dwell. He was afterwards sent in fetters of brass to Babylon, 
where he remained until his death. 

12. Nebuchadnezzar appears to have felt that his purposes 
had not been fully executed by the army, or else he was urged 
by the Edomites and others to exceed his first intentions. He 
therefore sent Nebuzaradan, the captain of the guard, with a 
sufficient force, to complete the desolation of Judah and Jeru- 
salem. He burned the city and the temple to the ground ; he 
collected and sent to Babylon all the gold and silver which for- 
mer spoilers had left ; and he transported all the people who 
had been left behind in Jehoiachin’s captivity, save only the 
poor of the land, who were left to be vine-dressers and hus- 
bandmen. Four years after, Nebuzaradan again entered Judea, 
and gleaned a few more of the miserable inhabitants, whom he 
sent off to Babylon. 

13. Thus was the land left desolate ; and thus ended the 
kingdom of Judah and the reign of David’s house, after it had 
endured four hundred and four years under twenty kings. It is 
remarkable that the king of Babylon made no attempt to colo- 
nize the country he had depopulated, as was done by the Assy- 
rians in Israel ; and thus, in the providence of God, the land 
was left vacant, to be re-occupied by the Jews after seventy years 
of captivity and punishment. 

14. Sacred Writers . — Zephaniah prophesied in the early 
part of Josiah’s reign; and his reprehension of the existing 
abuses would appear to have roused that excellent prince to 
undertake those reformations which honored his reign. About 
the middle of that reign Jeremiah began to prophesy, and he 
lived through the succeeding reigns to see the fulfilment of his 
own predictions of the captivity of Judah. He was a priest of 
Anathoth, a place about three miles north of Jerusalem. After 


HO 


SACRED WRITERS. 


[B. C. 588. 


the death of Josiah, he met with great opposition from the 
kings and courtiers, by which his spirit was much afflicted. 
After the destruction of Jerusalem, he went, reluctantly, to 
Egypt, with a remnant of the Jews. What afterwards happen- 
ed to him is not known with certainty ; but it is said that his 
countrymen in Egypt were so offended by his faithful remon- 
strances, that they stoned him to death. The prophecies and 
“ lamentations” of Jeremiah indicate a man deeply conscious of 
the evil days on which he had fallen, and over which he 
mourned intensely. Habakkuk, who delivered his short pro- 
phecy in the reign of Jehoiakim, declared with much sublimity 
of style and grandeur of imagery, the approaching calamities of 
the nation, and pointed out the consolations which the faithful 
might still claim. Ezekiel was of the sacerdotal race, and was 
one of the captives whom Nebuchadnezzar carried into Babylon, 
along with king Jehoiachin. There, by the river Chebar, which 
falls into the Euphrates, he had visions of God, and delivered 
prophecies confirmatory of those which Jeremiah at the same 
time delivered in Judea. The short prophecy of Obadiah is al- 
most wholly directed against the Edomites, and is supposed to 
have been delivered in the very few years which elapsed be- 
tween the destruction of Jerusalem and the desolation of Edom 
by Nebuchadnezzar. 


BOOK VI. 
CHAPTER I. 588 to 535. 


BABYLON. 

B. C. 

Nebuchadnezzar con- 
quers Egypt, . 570 

His insanity, . . 568 
His recovery and 
death, .... 561 
Evil-Merodach, . 561 
Jehoiachin released, 561 
Belshazzer, or Neri- 
glissar, . . . 558 

N ab onadius — vice- 
roy, .... 553 

Cyrus, the Persian, 
takes Babylon, . 536 
End of captivity, . 535 


b. c. 

Cyaxares II. (Da- 
rius), .... 641 

— succeeds Belshaz- 
zar at Babylon, . 553 
Cyrus succeeds his 
uncle Darius, . . 551 
— completes the 
formation of the 
Persian Empire, 
by recovering Ba- 
bylon from Nabo- 
nadius, . . . 536i 


GENERAL HISTORY 

B. C. 

Servius Tullius, King 
of Rome, . . . 576 
Anaximander, . .568 
Phalaris, tyrant of 
Agrigentum, . 567 
Cleobulus, . . . 564 
Croesus, king of 
Lydia, . . .562 

Pisistratus, tyrant of 
Athens, . . . 560 
Anaximenes, . . 556 
Pythagoras, . . 539 
[Simonides the poet, 537 


In order to preserve the continuity of the history of Palestine, 
it is necessary to follow into their exile that favoured race, on 
account of whom the Holy Land has acquired that celebrity 
which must ever attach to its name. 


[b. c k 569. NEBUCHADNEZZAR. 141 

1- Again the children of Abraham, the chosen people, were 
in exile, and the land of their inheritance lay desolate. But we 
are not on that account to imagine that the purposes for whicn 
they had been set apart as a peculiar people among the nations, 
had been rendered nugatory. This was by no means the case. 
They were still destined to fultil their vocation of keeping alive 
in the world the knowledge of the true God, the Creator of all 
things, and of being the depositaries of his designs towards the 
race of man. 

2. The latter exiles found themselves not altogether strangers 
at Babylon. Their countrymen of the earlier captivities were 
settled in various stations and employments, some of them held 
posts of trust under the government. By that government they 
were regarded not as prisoners, but as useful emigrants ; and 
after a while they appear to have experienced no other incon- 
veniences than those which naturally flowed from their position 
as foreigners in a strange country ; from the derison of the na- 
tives at the peculiarities of their religion ; and, probably 
from a distinctive poll-tax, from which the Babylonians were 
exempt. This much may be gathered from dispersed intima- 
tions ; but the principal known facts of the captivity are connect- 
ed with the history of Daniel one of the earlier exiles, who rose 
to the highest distinction under the Babylonian kings. 

3. Daniel was one of the young men of high family who were 
carried away as hostages for the fidelity of king Jehoiachin. 
He and some others were put under the chief eunuch, to be 
properly trained in the language and learning of the Chaldeans, 
to fit them for employments at the court. This training lasted 
three years, when they were examined in the presence of the 
king: and Daniel and three of his friends were found to have 
made far greater progress than any of those who had been edu- 
cated with them. They were therefore enrolled among the 
magians or learned men. 

4. A few years after, Nebuchadnezzar was greatly troubled 
with a dream, which made a profound impression upon his 
mind ; but the particulars of which quite passed from his memo- 
ory when he awoke. Great importance was attached to dreams 
in’those days, and men skilled in the sciences were supposed to 
be able to discover their meaning. Therefore, the king sent for 
his court magians, and required them not only to interpret the 
dream, but to discover the dream itself, which he had forgot- 
ten. This they declared to be impossible; on which the exas- 
perated tyrant ordered all the magians to be massacred. Dan- 
iel and his friends, although not present, were included in such 
a sentence. On learning this, he beg;ged a respite for the whole 
body, undertaking to find, through his God, the solution of tne 
difficulty. The respite was granted ; and at the earnest pray- 
er of Daniel, God made the secret known to him. A colossal 
image which the king saw, with a head of gold, arms and breas* 
of silver, belly and thighs of brass, legs of iron, and toes partly 


H2 NEBUCHADNEZZAR DIES. fB. C. &61. 

iron and partly clay, was struck down by a stone, which itself 
grew and filled the whole earth. This, in the interpretation 
of Daniel, figured forth “the things to come describing by 
characteristic symbols the succession of empires to the end of 
time ; and it is wonderful to observe how precisely *he greater 
part of what was then future has since been accomplished. The 
king was not only satisfied but astonished ; he was almost ready 
to pay divine honours to Daniel ; and raised him at once to the 
eminent station of Archi magus, or chief of the magians, and 
governor of the metropolitan province of Eabyion. His three 
friends, also, were, at his request, promoted to places of trust 
and honour. 

5. Not long after, Nebuchadnezzar set up a colossal image in 
the plains of Dura, and commanded that, when music sounded, 
every one should worship it, on pain of death. He soon learn- 
ed that this command was utterly neglected by Daniel’s three 
friends, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego ; and his rage grew 
so high, at the example of disobedience given by persons in 
their high station that he ordered them to be at once cast 
into “ the burning furnace.” The heat of the furnace was so 
great as to destroy the men who cast them in; but they them- 
selves remained unhurt, and not even a hair of their heads was 
singed. They came forth when the king called them ; and he 
was so much astonished and convinced by this prodigy, that he 
publicly acknowledged the greatness of the God whom they 
served. 

6. There appear to have been good and generous qualities 
in the character of Nebuchadnezzar ; but the pride with which 
he contemplated the grandeur of his empire, and the magnifi- 
cence of his undertakings, was most inordinate, and he requir- 
ed to be taught that “ the Most High ruleth over all the king- 
doms of the earth, and giveth them to whomsoever he will.” 
He was warned of this in a dream, which was interpreted to 
him by Daniel ; but, neglecting the warning, “ his heart was 
changed from man’s, and a beast’s heart was given to him.” 
He was afflicted with a madness which made him think himself 
a beast, and, acting as such, he remained constantly abroad in 
the fields, living upon wild herbs. In this debased and forlorn 
condition the mighty conqueror remained seven years, when 
he was restored to his reason and his throne ; and one of his first 
acts was to issue a proclamation, .humbly acknowledging the 
signs and wonders which the Most High God had wrought to- 
wards him, and declaring his conviction, that “ those who walk 
in pride he is able to abase.” He died soon after. He was 
succeeded by Evil-Merodach, who had administered the govern- 
ment during the insanity of his father. On his accession, he 
released Jehoiachin from his long confinement, and gave him 
the first place among the fallen kings who sat at his table in 
Babylon. After three years, Evil-Merodach was defeated, and 
killed in a battle with the combined Medes and Persians under 
Cyrus. 


b. c. 558,] 


143 


EELSHAZZAR. 

7. His son Belshazzaf succeeded. Of him nothing is record- 
ed but the circumstances in which his reign concluded. There 
was a great festival, which Belshazzar celebrated by a magnifi- 
cent feast to all his nobles. They talked of iheir gods, whose 
power had proved so much greater than that of the gods of 
other nations; and this suggested to the king to send for the 
sacred vessels of the temple of Jerusalem, to be used as wine- 
cups in their riotings. While thus profanely engaged, their 
attention was arrested by a mysterious hand, tracing on the 
wall words which no one understood. The magians tried in 
vain to interpret them. Daniel was then sent for, and he, after 
solemnly rebuking the king for his profanation of that Great 
Name which his proud grandfather had been compelled to hon- 
our, explained the terrible purport of the inscription to be, that 
the end both of his life and dynasty was close at hand. He lost 
his life that very night by the conspiracy of two nobles, whom 
he had grievously wronged ; and a year after, the death of his 
son, a boy, named Laborosoarchad, left the heritage to Darius 
(or Cyaxares) the Mede, who accordingly took possession of the 
kingdom. Thus the Babylonian empire was merged in that of 
the Medes and Persians. 

8. A very high place in the favour of Darius was occupied 
by Daniel ; and in re-distributing the government of the provin- 
ces, the prophet was set at the head of all. This excited the 
jealousy and discontent of many, and the destruction of 
Daniel was determined. His hands were too clean, and his 
conduct too upright, to allow them to hope that they could fas- 
ten any charge upon him, except on the score of his reli- 
gion. They therefore persuaded the weak old king to issue a 
decree, that no one should, for thirty days, make prayer to 
any god but himself, under pain of being cast alive into the den 
of lions. Daniel, however, made no change in his usual habits 
of prayer to the God of Israel, with his face turned towards 
Jerusalem. He was, therefore, accused to Darius, who saw too 
late the folly into which he had been drawn, and would fain 
have spared his friend. But being reminded, that among the 
Medes and Persians a royal decree could not be revoked or al- 
tered, he reluctantly consented that his own should take effect. 
Daniel was then thrown into the den of lions. The unhappy 
king spent the night in sorrow; and early in the morning he 
hastened to the den, hoping that perhaps the Mighty God whom 
Daniel served had not allowed him to perish. The cheerful 
voice of the prophet from within the den answered to the call, 
for the lions had not been allowed to hurt him. Daniel was 
taken from the den, and his accusers cast in ; and on them the 
lions had no mercy. This produced from Darius a remarkable 
proclamation of the greatness and supremacy of “ the Most 
High God,” whom Daniel served. 

9. Darius occupied the throne of Babylon only two years ; 
and on his death it was usurped by a Babylonian noble, named 


BABYLON TAKEN. 


i'J4 


[b. c. 53d. 


Nabonadius. Cyrus, the illustrious nephew of Darius, was for 
several years too much engaged in other wars to attend to him. 
But at length, he led his troops against Babylon. The city held 
out for two years against him; and was then only taken by the 
remarkable stratagem of diverting the course of the river Eu- 
phrates, which flowed through the city, and entering by night 
through the dry channel. This taking of Babylon, with all its 
circumstances, was minutely described by the prophet Isaiah, 
and Cyrus mentioned by name, above a century before that 
conqueror was born. 

10. The prophet Daniel was still alive when Babylon was 
taken by Cyrus ; and there is reason to conclude, that this ven- 
erable personage was high in the esteem of that conqueror. 
In some decrees, Cyrus intimates his knowledge of those pro- 
phecies in Isaiah which speak of himself, and there is little 
question that Daniel called his attention to them. We know 
that the prophet had at this time looked much into the writings 
of former prophets (Dan. ix. 1. 2), and had ascertained that the 
duration of the captivity was to be seventy years (Jer. xxv. 11, 
12 ; xxix. 10) ; and now he found that the expiration of the 
seventy years left the sovereign power in the hands of Cyrus, 
of whom Isaiah had so particularly prophesied as the person 
destined “ to restore the captivities of Judah. The communi- 
cation of these facts must have made a strong impression on 
the conqueror, accompanied as it was by the claim, that the 
Jehovah whom the Hebrews worshipped was He who had rais- 
ed him up, and had given to him all that greatness and glory 
by which he was now surrounded. 

11. Sacred Writers . — The most eminent writer of this pe- 
riod was Daniel, whose history has been given above. He liv- 
ed throughout the captivity in great esteem and honour. He 
did not return with his countrymen to Judtea, but remained at 
Babylon, and probably died soon after, either there or at Susa, 
from which metropolitan city the last of his visions is dated, 
when he was about ninety-four years old. His writings are in 
the form of visions, which describe, almost with the distinctness 
of history, the events of future times. The Messiah is also 
mentioned by him ; and the time of his coming is set down with 
such precision, as produced among the Jews a general expecta- 
tion of his advent at the time that Jesus Christ appeared. 


145 


CHAPTER II. B. C. 535 to 516. 


THE JEWS. 


PERSIAN EMPIRE. 


GENERAL HISTORY. 


B. C. 

Return to Jerusalem 
under Zerubbabel, 535 
Jeshua, high-priest, 535 
Rebuilding of the 
city and second 
Temple begun, 535 
Temple finished, 516 


Cyrus, . . . . 
Cambyses, . . . 
Smerdis, the Ma- 
gian, . . . . 

Darius Hystaspes, 


b. c. 


b. c 


529 

521 

521 


Tarquinius Superbus, 
king ol Rome, . 534 
Anacreon, . . . 532 
Polycrates, tyrant of 
Samos, . . . 531 
Hippias and Hippar- 
chus at Athens, 527 
Confucius, in China, 520 


1. Animated by the impressions thus made upon his mind, 
Cyrus, in the very year that Babylon was taken, issued a de- 
cree, in which, after acknowledging the supremacy of the Lord, 
and that to Him he owed all kingdoms, he gave full permis- 
sion to the Jews, in any part of his dominions, to return to 
their own land, and to rebuild the city and temple of Jerusalem. 
No sooner were the favourable dispositions of the king thus 
made known, than the members of the later captivity — those 
of the tribes of Judah, Benjamin, and Levi — repaired in large 
numbers to Babylon from their different places of residence; 
some to make preparations for their journey; and others, who 
had no intention to return themselves, to assist those who had. 
Most of the existing race had been born in Babylonia, and in the 
course of years families had established themselves in the 
country, and formed connections, and gathered around them com- 
forts which were not easily abandoned. Hence, only a zealous 
minority were disposed to avail themselves of the decree in 
their favour: the great bulk of the people choosing to remain 
in the land of their exile ; and it has always been the opinion 
of the Jews, that the more illustrious portion of their nation re- 
mained in Babylonia. 

2. The first return caravan was organized and directed by 
Zerubbabel, the grandson of king Jehoiachin, and by Jeshua, a 
grandson of the last high-priest Jozadak. The number of per- 
sons who joined them was about 50,000, including above 7000 
male and female servants. Before they departed, Cyrus caused 
to be restored to them the more valuable of the sacred utensils, 
which had been removed by Nebuchadnezzar, and preserved by 
his successors, and which were now destined to be again em- 
ployed in the service of the sanctuary. Zerubbabel was also 
intrusted with large contributions towards the expense of re- 
building the temple, from the Jews who chose to remain behind. 
The beasts of burden in this caravan exceeded eight thousand. 
In the book of Ezra, the names of the families which rettuaafi 
N 


146 REBUILDING OF THE SECOND TEMPLE BEGUN, [b. C. 534 

to this first colony, and in those which followed, are carefully 
given. 

3. The incidents of the journey are not related. On reaching 
Palestine, the caravan repaired at once to Jerusalem, which 
they found utterly ruined and desolate. Before they separated 
to seek habitations for themselves, they raised a large sum by 
voluntary contributions towards the rebuilding of the temple. 
They then employed themselves in securing dwellings and 
necessaries for their families ; and at the ensuing Feast of Taber- 
nacles again repaired to Jerusalem, where sacrifices were offered 
on an altar erected upon the ruins of the temple. After this the 
people applied themselves zealously to the necessary prepara- 
tions for the restoration of that edifice. In a year from the de- 
parture from Babylon the preparations were sufficiently ad- 
vanced to allow the work to be commenced ; and, accordingly, 
the foundations of the second temple were then laid with great 
rejoicings and songs of thanksgiving. While the work pro- 
ceeded, the Samaritans manifested a desire to assist in the 
work, and to claim a community of worship in the new temple 
This was declined by the Jews, on the ground that the decree 
of the Persian king extended only to the race of Israel. 

4. Being thus frustrated in their design, the Samaritans em- 
ployed every means they could devise to thwart the undertaking. 
Their origin appears to have given them considerable influence 
at the Persian court ; and although they could not act openly 
against the plain decree of Cyrus, an unscrupulous use of their 
money and influence among the officers of the government 
enabled them to raise such obstructions that the people were 
much discouraged, and the work proceeded but languidly, and 
at length was suspended altogether. This was one cause of the 
enmity which always afterwards subsisted between the Jews 
and the Samaritans. The suspension of the work commenced 
in the time of Cyrus, and continued through the reign of Cam- 
byses and Smerdis, to the second year of Darius Hystaspes. In 
this long period the people gradually lost all heart for the work, 
and were disposed to conclude that the set time for it had not 
yet come. From this lethargy they were roused by the ex- 
hortations and reproaches of the prophet Haggai ; and the 
building was resumed with fresh zeal. This zeal was, indeed, 
somewhat damped by the discouraging regrets of the old men, 
who had seen in their youth the temple of Solomon, and who 
cleariy perceived that this would be a far inferior building. 
But to obviate this discouragement the prophet Haggai was 
commissioned to declare that the ultimate glory of this second 
temple should greatly exceed that of the first, — not by greater 
splendour of fabric, but by the presence within its walls of the 
Messiah, so long expected and foretold— “ the desire of all na- 
tions.”— (Haggai, ii. 1-9.) 

5. The renewal of the work roused afresh the opposition of 
the Samaritans, whose representations induced Tatnai, the Per- 


TEMPLE FINISHED. 


H7 


b. c. 516.] 

sian governor of Syria, lo write home for instructions, stating 
that the Jews alleged the authority of a decree of Cyrus for 
their proceedings. The result was happy ; for, after some 
search, the decree was found. It not only authorized the erec- 
tion of the temple, but directed the local government to afford 
assistance and supplies, which the Jews had not ventured to 
require, but which the rescript of Darius now commanded to 
be given. Under the impulse thus imparted the work proceeded 
with spirit ; and, four years after, it was completed. The dedi- 
cation was celebrated with great solemnity and joy; and soon 
after, it was made fit for the old ritual worship, which was 
resumed at the ensuing passover. 

6. The Jews being now in some sense restored to their own 
land, it is proper to mention the footing on which they stood as 
a people. Like all the surrounding nations, they were under 
tribute to the Persians, and subject to the general policy of that 
government. They appear to have been favourably considered 
by it, at first on account of Daniel, and afterwards on account 
of the hatred of idolatry which was common to the Jews and 
to the Persians.* They were allowed the free exercise of their 
religion and laws, and the internal government was directed by 
a governor of their own nation, or by the high-priest when there 
was no other governor. There was, in fact, a distinct common- 
wealth, with its own peculiar institutions ; and although 
responsible to the Persian king, and to his deputy the governor- 
general of Syria, it was more secure under the protection of the 
Persian monarch than, considering its feeble condition, it would 
have been in complete independence. With regard to religibn, 
the dreadful lesson taught by the desolation of the land, the 
destruction of the temple, and the captivity of the people, had 
effectually cured the Jews of that tendency to idolatry which 
had been their ruin. But, as time went on, the distortion of 
character which had been restrained in one direction broke forth 
in another ; and although they no longer went formally astray 
from a religion which did not suit their carnal minds, they, by 
many vain and mischievous fancies, fabricated a religion suited 
to their dispositions out of the ritual to which they formally 
adhered. 

7. Sacred Writers .— The prophet Haggai was the first of the 
three prophets who were commissioned to make known the will 
of God to the Jews after their return from captivity. He is 
supposed to have been born at Babylon, and to have returned 
with Zerubbabel, under the edict of Cyrus. The object of his 
prophecy was to stimulate the building of the temple. Zecha- 
riah was also one of the returned exiles ; and his prophecies 
were delivered at the same time, and with the same object. He 
also speaks of more remote times, — the coming of Christ, and 
the Roman war. 

* The Persians worshipped the sun as a symbol of the Deity, and the fire 
as a symbol of the sun. They could not endure idolatrous images. 


148 


CHAPTER III. B. C. 516 to 444. 


THE JEWS. 

B. C. 


Jehoiakim, high-priest, - - 483 

E ther succeeds queen Vashti, 464 
Ezra sent to Jerusalem, • - 457 

Mordecai exalted, - - - 451 

Eliashib, high-priest, - - 453 

GENERAL HISTORY. 

Harmodius and Aristogiton at 
Athens, - - - - 513 

Consular government estab- 

lished at Rome, ... 509 
First Dictator(Lartius) at Rome, 503 
Coriolanus banished, - - 491 

The Persians defeated at Mar 

athon, 490 

Xerxes makes his expedition 
into Greece, - - - 480 

The stand at Thermopylae, - 479 
Xerxes defeated at Plaiaea.and 
Mycale retires from Greece, 479 
First Decemvirs at Rome, - 451 


PERSIAN EMPIRE. 

B.C. 

Xerxes or Ahasuerus, • - 485 
Artaxerxes Longimanus, - 464 


REMARKABLE PERSONS. 


L. Junius Brutus, 
Porsenna, 



- 509 



- 507 

Coriolanus, 

Leonidas, 



- 490 



- 491 

Aristides, 



- 483 

Aeschylus? 



- 483 

Pindar, - 



- 483 

Themistocles, 



- 483 

Pausanius, 

Cimon (banished), 



- 479 

- 473 

Anaxagoras, - 



- 473 

Pericles, 



- 468 

Sophocles, 



- 46.3 

Herodotus, 


*• 

- 445 


1. It does not appear that the restored Jews experienced any 
further molestation in the lifetime of Darius Hvstaspes, who 
reigned thirty-six years, and died B. C. 485. He was succeeded 
by his son Xerxes; and as he is the Ahasuerus of Ezra (iv. 6), 
it would appear that he was friendly to the Jews, notwithstand- 
ing the attempts made by the Samaritans to prejudice his mind 
against them. He was succeeded in B. C. 564, by his son Ar- 
taxerxes Longimanus, whose long reign embraces several cir- 
cumstances of great interest to the Jewish people. 

2. Early in this reign they proceeded to rebuild Jerusalem on 
a regular plan, and to surround it with a wall. This last pro- 
cedure excited a ferment of opposition among the Samaritans and 
others, who succeeded in alarming the Persian government lest 
its dominion in these parts should be endangered by the fortifi- 
cation of a city, noted of old for ts turbulent character, as well 
as for the power of its former kings. Hence, an order was ob- 
tained that the building of the walls should not be allowed. It 
was not long, however, before Artaxerxes ascertained the pre- 
sent position and character of the Jewish people, and the favour- 
able sentiments of Cyrus and Darius Hvstaspes towards them, as 
manifested in the conduct and edicts of these princes. He learn- 
ed also the veneration with which the God of the Hebrews had 
been regarded by the most eminent of his predecessors. All 
this is manifested in the terms of the commission by which, in 


EZRA SENT TO JERUSALEM. 


149 


B. c. 457.] 

the seventh year of this reign, Ezra, the priest and scribe, was 
authorized to proceed to Jerusalem to set in order whatever re- 
lated to the service and worship of Jehovah. He was not, how- 
ever, authorized to rebuild the walls. 

3. Such a commission as that with which Ezra was invested 
had become highly necessary ; for after the death of the first 
leaders of the restoration, the high-priest Jeshua, the governor 
Zerubbabel, and the prophets Haggai and Zechariah, both the 
civil and ecclesiastical state became very unsettled, and had re- 
mained so for many years. The commission granted to Ezra 
was very extensive, and its terms were so precisely applicable 
to the circumstances of the Jewish people, as to suggest that it 



! was procured from the king by some of the powerful Jews who 
i remained beyond the Euphrates. As governor, Ezra was au- 
I thorized to appoint superior and inferior judges, to rectify abu- 
ses, to enforce the observance of the law, and to punish the re- 
i fractory with fines, imprisonment, or even death, according to 
I the degree of their offences. Such of the Jews as thought pro- 
per, were invited to return with Ezra, and from those who chose 
| to remain, he was authorized to collect contributions for the use 
of the Temple. To this fund the king himself and his council 


150 


MORDECAI AND HAMAN. 


[b. c. 451. 

liberally contributed ; and the ministers of the royal revenues 
west of the Euphrates were enjoined to furnish Ezra with what 
he might require, within certain limits, of silver, wheat, wine, 
oil, and salt, in order that the sacrifices and offerings of the tem- 
ple should be constantly kept up ; all of which is said to have 
been done in order to avert from the king and his sons, the wrath 
of the God of the Hebrews, who, it is very evident, was held in 
much honour at the Persian court. 

4. An exemption from all taxes was also promised to persons 
engaged in the service of the temple ; but this boon did not in- 
duce any of the Levitical tribe to join the caravan which assem- 
bled on the banks of the river Ahava, in Babylonia ; and it was 
with some difficulty that Ezra at last induced some of the priest- 
ly families to go with him. The whole caravan was composed 
of 1754 adult males, — making, with wives and children, about 
6000 persons. As a party thus composed had little military 
strength, and as the journey across the desert was then, as it al- 
ways has been, dangerous, from the predatory Arab tribes by 
which it is infested, they felt considerable anxiety on this ac- 
count. But Ezra, from having said much to the king of the pow- 
er of God to protect and deliver those that trusted in him, felt 
disinclined to apply fora guard of soldiers; and thought it bet- 
ter that the party should, in a solemn act of fasting and prayer, 
cast themselves upon the care of their God. Their confidence 
was rewarded by the perfect safety with which their journey 
was accomplished. In four months they arrived at Jerusalem. 

5. Having deposited in the temple the donations with which 
he was charged, and imparted his commission to the royal offi- 
cers in that quarter, Ezra applied himself earnestly to the work 
he had undertaken. He does not himself record any of his acts 
particularly, excepting the removal of the foreign and idolatrous 
women, whom many of the people, and even of the priests and 
Levites, had married, contrary to the law. But we are inform- 
ed by Nehemiah, that Ezra caused the law to be publicly read to 
the assembled people, and to be explained by interpreters to 
those who understood only the Chaldean dialect, in which they 
had been brought up. This doubtless gave occasion for the in- 
crease of the copies of the law ; and it is well understood that 
Ezra collected and revised the sacred books which compose the 
Old Testament, and arranged them in the form which they now 
bear. 

6. While Ezra was engaged in these labors, a great danger 
threatened the Jews who remained beyond the Euphrates. In 
the third year of his reign, the Persian king had put away his 
queen Yashti, and had taken in her place a beautiful Jewish 
damsel named Esther, the niece ofMordecai, a Benjaminite, and 
one of the officers of the palace. Years passed away, in the 
course of which the chief place in the king’s favour was acquir- 
ed by Haman, an Amalekite. To him the king commanded that 
all his servants and officers should bow in that peculiar manner. 


b. c. 451.] 


haman’s death. 


151 


by which the Persians testified the highest respect. This act of 
homage was refused by Mordecai,* who constantly allowed the 
great man to pass by without shewing that respect which all 
others paid. This attracted the attention and excited the inqui- 
ries of Hainan ; and learning probably that all other rigid Jews 
would act in the same manner, he vowed the extinction of the 
whole race. Having fixed, by lot, what he considered a propi- 
tious day for the execution of his design, he proceeded to the 
king, and without naming the people, but describing them* in 
general terms, as of peculiar customs and unpleasant manners, 
and of a refractory and rebellious disposition, he obtained an or- 
der for their extermination. Couriers were accordingly sent to 
all the provinces, commanding that the Jews everywhere, with- 
out regard to age or sex, should be utterly extirpated on the 
thirteenth day of the month of Adar, and their property taken 
as prey. When this became known in Shushan (Sesa) the me- 
tropolis, all the Jews there declared their concern in loud la- 
mentations, and by garments of mourning. On learning these 
things from Mordecai, Esther, at his desire, undertook to inter- 
cede with the king in behalf of her people. 

7. This was an undertaking of great danger ; for it was death 
for any one to appear before the king uncalled, and she had not 
for some time been invited to his presence. She went, howev- 
er, attended by her maidens ; and the king happening to be in 
good humour, extended to her the golden sceptre, by which act 
her intrusion was forgiven. She invited the king and Haman 
to a banquet, at which she improved the favourable opening with 
such consummate tact, that the design of Haman appeared in 
the king’s view as a plot for the destruction of the queen and her 
people ; and in his rage he commanded him to be hanged upon 
a high gallows which he had prepared for Mordecai. It was 
less easy to revoke the murderous order which had at Haman’s 
instance been issued, by reason of that peculiar practice of the 
Persians which made the word of the king a law that could not 
be altered. All that could be done was to allow the Jews to 
stand upon their defence against those who might attempt to 
put the first order into execution. These conflicting orders oc- 
casioned much bloodshed in different parts; but the Jewish na- 
tion was preserved, and the deliverance is to this day comme- 
morated by an annual feast, called Purim. 

8. There is yet another incident in this remarkable history. 
In the interval, after the first order had been issued, the king’s 
attention was providentially drawn to the fact, that a domestic 
plot against his life had been formerly detected and made 
known by Mordecai. He then asked what reward had 
been conferred on the man to whom he owed his life; 


* The precise ground of this refusal is not well known. Some think that 
it was because the form of homage was deemed idolatrous by Mordecai ; 
others, that he would not bow to one of the race which had been doomed to 
extermination as the implacable enemies of Israel. 


152 


SACRED WRITERS. 


[B. C. 451. 


and hearing that he had received no mark of favour, he 
sent for Haman, and asked him what ought to be done for 
the man “whom the king delighteth to honour.” Supposing 
that the king referred to himself, Haman enumerated dis- 
tinctions of the very highest class, bordering on those which 
belonged to royalty itself ; he was, therefore, utterly confounded 
when the king told him to see that all these honours were be- 
stowed upon Mordecai the Jew, — the very Mordecai for whom 
he had just prepared a gallows fifty cubits high. Haman obey- 
ed in silence ; and on his downfall, which immediately follow- 
ed, Mordecai was promoted to his place, which gave him power 
to be very useful to his nation. 

9. Sacred Writers . — The history of Ezra has been mentioned, 
and some allusion has been made to his labour in arranging and 
revising the sacred books. Of these labours he says nothing 
himself; but the constant tradition of the Jews has been, that 
he collected as many copies of the sacred books as he could 
obtain; and by correcting the errors of former copyists, and by 
adding in various places what appeared to be necessary to illus- 
trate, connect, oi explain the context, he produced one perfect 
copy, which became the exemplar for all subsequent transcri- 
bers. Ezra was probably the author of the book which bears 
his name ; and to him also, but without sufficient authority, 
the books of Chronicles have been ascribed. 


153 


CHAPTER IV. B. C. 444 to 312. 


THE JEWS. 

B. C. 

Nehemiah, . . . 444 

Builds the walls of Jerusalem, 444 
Returns to Persia, . . 430 

Comes again to Jerusalem, 424 
End of the Old Testament 

canon , . . , 420 

Joiada, high-priest, . . 413 

Jonathan or Jehu, high priest, 373 
Jaddua or Jaddus. high-priest, 341 
Onms, . . . 321 


PERSIAN EMPIRE. 


B. C. 

Artaxerxes Longimanus, 423 

Darius Nothus, . . . 423 

Artaxerxes Mnemon, . 404 

Ochus, .... 381 

Darius Codomanus, . . 335 

Conquered by Alexander, . 331 


EYENTS. 

First censors at Rome, . 443 

Peloponnesian War begins, 431 
Egypt revolts from the" Per- 
sians, . . 414 

Death of Cyrus the younger, 401 
Retreat of the Ten Thousand, 401 
Peace of Antalcidas, . 387 

Battle of Mantinea, and death 


of Epaminondas, . 363 

Birth of Alexander the Great, 356 

Egypt recovered by the Per- 
sians, . . . 350 

Carthaginians defeated by Ti- 

moleon, . . 340 

Battle of Chaeronea, . 340 

Philip king of Macedon killed, 336 
Alexander defeats the Persians 

on the Granicus, . 334 

at Issus, . 333 

Takes Tyre, visits Jerusalem, 
acquires Egypt, founds 
Alexandria, . . 332 

Defeats Darius at Arbela, 331 
Persian empire ends, . 331 

Alexander dies, and his con- 
quests shared by his 
generals, . . 324 


PERSONS. 


Euripides, 

Phidias, 

Aristophanes, 

Socrates, . 

Democritus, 

Thucydides, 

Hippocrates, 

Alcibiades, 

Appius Claudius, 

Euclid, 

Zeuxis, 

Camillus (Roman dictator) 
Plato, . . . . 

Epaminondas, 

Diogenes, 

T. Manlius Torquatus, 
Timoleon, 

Aristotle, 

Phocion, 

Demosthenes, 

Apelles, 


B. c. 
442 
440 
434 
429 
428 
426 
425 
420 
419 
404 
397 
390 
389 
375 
372 
361 
346 
345 
343 
338 
334 


1. It was not until the twentieth year of Artaxerxes that the 
Jews received the long-desired permission to build the walls of 
Jerusalem. This permission was obtained by a Jew called Ne- 
hemiah, who held the high office of the royal cup-bearer, and 
whose concern that “ the city of his fathers’ sepulchres lay 
waste” having been noticed by the king, led to the inquiries 
which induced this result. Nehemiah himself was granted 
leave of absence, and invested with full powers as governor of 


154* 


WALLS OF JERUSALEM RE-BUILT. [b.C.444. 

the province, to enable him to execute his own designs, which 
circumstances had rendered coincident with the existing policy 
of the Persian government. He carried orders to the royal offi- 
cers west of the Euphrates, to render him all possible assistance, 
and to furnish from the king’s forests in Lebanon such timber 
as he might require. Thus commissioned, Nehemiah proceed- 
ed to Judaea, escorted hy a body of Persian officers and cavalry. 
In this person we have another instance of the liberality with 
which the great eastern monarchies treated persons of a differ- 
ent religion, and of foreign and captive origin. The rank and 
authority of Nehemiah at the Persian court are evinced by the 
commission itself, and by the great retinue which was allowed 
him; and his wealth is shewn by the numerous servants he 
maintained, and the open table he kept at Jerusalem, which, 
with the other expenses of the gov rnor, he defrayed from his 
own purse, declining to receive from the Jews the allowances 
belonging to his office. 

2. A large town without walls offered so little inducement 
to the people, and so much temptation to enemies, that Nehe- 
miah found Jerusalem unbuilt, and with a most scanty popula- 
tion. On making known his commission to the principal per- 
sons of the nation, he found them all disposed to engage zeal- 
ously in the undertaking. The building of the new wall was 
accordingly commenced upon the old foundations. The Sama- 
ritans, and other enemies of the Jews, took alarm at this move- 
ment, and endeavoured in every possible way to thwart the de- 
sign. The Jews were, however, too much in earnest to be dis- 
couraged ; they armed the workmen, and still further pro ected 
them by a guard, of armed citizens, as they worked in bands up- 
on different parts of the wall. Thus, by the most arduous and 
patriotic exeriions, the whole wall, with its gates and towers, 
was finished 1 in the short space of fifty-two days. This great 
work heing accomplished, the governor took measures to in- 
duce a sufficient number of the people to come and settle in the 
city. Tiie neglected service of the temple was re-established, 
and care was taken that the people should be properly instruct- 
ed in the hw of Moses. The public reading of the law, and its 
interpretation, under the direction of Ezra, as mentioned in the 
former chapter, took place at this time, with every encourage- 
ment from Nehemiah. This ended in a joyful celebration^ of 
the Feast of abernacles, which had, since the days of Joshua, 
been neglected and almost forgot r en ; and after this the people 
were found to be in so devout a frame of mind, that Ezra and 
Nehemiah seized the occasion to engage them to enter into a 
solemn covenant to serve God with singleness of heart, and to 
obey in all things the law of Moses. Of such covenants we 
have had more than one previous example. Thisone was seal- 
ed by the principal heads of families, as representing the whole 
of the people. 

3. After twelve years Nehemiah returned to Persia, his leave 


JOSHUA SLAIN, 


155 


b. c. 373.] 

of absence having apparently expired. His absence was not 
supplied by the presence of any person uniting the same de- 
gree of power and influence in 'the nation. The consequence 
was that the people soon began to neglect the divine law, and 
to contract mischievous connexions with the heathen nations 
by whom they were surrounded. This misconduct was by no 
means confined to the inferior classes of the people; out 
the evil example was set by the leading men, by the priests, 
and even by the high-priest himself. The intelligence of such 
proceedings at length brought Nehemiah back again from the 
Persian court. He applied a vigorous and unsparing hand to 
the reformation of these abuses. Tne Jews who had married 
heathen females were compelled to part from them ; the ob- 
servance of the sabbath was enforced ; and the condition of the 
people was much improved by the abolition of illegal usury, 
which had operated in bringing great numbers of the poor un- 
der personal servitude to the rich. 

Here, properly speaking, the history of the Old Testament 
ends ; and our further information is obtained from Josephus, 
and from the books of the Maccabees. 

4. After Nehemiah, Judaea ceased to form a distinct govern- 
ment, and was annexed to the satrapy of Syria. The internal 
government was, however, administered by the high-priests, 
under the appointment of the satraps of Syria. This annexa- 
tion of the civil government to the pontificate, soon made that 
office one of high ambition to the different members of the sa- 
cerdotal family, and gave occasion to most disgraceful contests 
among them. At the time which we have now reached, there 
had been three high-priests since the return from Babylon, 
namelv, Joshua, Joachim, and Eliashib. This last died in B. 
C. 413, and was succeeded by his son Joiada or Judas, whose 
pontificate extended to B. C. 373. Until the death of Joiada, 
nothing particularly worthy of notice occurs in the history of 
the Jews. They remained quiet under the Persian government, 
to which they were as much attached as they could be to any 
foreign rule, and to which they were always faithful. 

5. The death of Joiada occurred in the thirty-first year of Ar- 
taxerxes Mnemon, when the Satrapy of Syria was vested in Ba- 
goses. But soon after, Joshua, another son of the late high- 
priest, arrived at Jerusalem, and claimed that high office on the 
ground of having been appointed by Bagoses. This occasioned 
a violent dispute between the two brothers in the interior court 
of the temple, and Joshua was slain in that sacred place. On 
hearing of this, Bagoses repaired to Jerusalem, and after stern- 
ly rebuking the Jews for thus defiling the temple of their God, 
he imposed as a punishment a heavy tax upon the lambs offer- 
ed in sacrifice, which was not remitted until after the death of 
Artaxerxes, when Bagoses was recalled to Persia, and the tax 
was not enforced by his successor. 

6. In the next reign, that of Ochus, the Phoenicians revolted 


156 


JADDUA OR JADDUS. 


£b» c. 341. 

from the Persian yoke ; and in this affair the Jews appear to 
have been partially involved ; for after the fall of Sidon, the 
king went and took Jericho, and sent the inhabitants into exile. 
It was in the eighteenth year of this reign that the high-priest 
Johanan died, and was succeeded by his son Jaddua. It would 
seem that Jaddua was a just pontiff, who endeavoured to up- 
hold the reforms of Nehemiah. Of this he gave a remarkable 
proof by expelling his own brother Manasses for marrying the 
daughter of Sanballat, the Cuthite governor of Samaria. Ma- 
nasses then repaired to that personage ; and the Samaritans, 
not being allowed access to the temple at Jerusalem, were in- 
duced by the presence of a member of the pontifical family 
among them, to think of having a temple for themselves. San- 
ballat accordingly obtained from Darius Codomanus permission 
to build a temple for them on Mount Gerizim, and when it was 
finished, Manasses became their high-priest. This measure 
greatly widened the breach between the Jews and the Samari- 
tans. Each party contended for the exclusive claims of its own 
temple. The Jews alleged that sacrifices ought to be offered 
only at Jerusalem ; but the Samaritans affirmed that the true 
place of worship was Mount Gerizim, where they alleged Joshua 
had built the first altar. The continuance and growth of this 
controversy produced that mortal antipathy between the two 
nations to which there is more than one allusion in the New 
Testament. (Luke ix. 51-56 ; John iv. 9-29 ; viii. 48.) 

7. It was in the time of Jaddua that the great event arrived 
which had long been foreshewn in the prophetic visions of Dan- 
iel (ii. 39 ; xi. 4). The great victory over the Persian king, at 
Issus, opened up the south to Alexander the Great, who com- 
menced operations in Syria, and, while engaged in the siege of 
Tyre, summoned the neighbouring nations to render their sub- 
mission. The Samaritans obeyed the summons very early, and 
were treated with indulgence ; but it does not seem that any 
attention was paid to it by the Jews. Therefore, after he had 
destroyed Tyre, he turned aside on his way to Gaza, to march 
against Jerusalem. As he approached, his hostile purposes are 
said to have been averted by an imposing and submissive pro- 
cesssion of the priests and citizens, headed by the high priest in 
his pontifical robes. In him the conqueror is said to have re- 
cognized the person who in a dream had foretold to him the 
conquest of the Persian empire. If so, it was quite in the pow- 
er of Jaddua to fulfil this dream by shewing him these pro- 
phecies of Daniel, in which his existence and victories had been 
clearly foretold. That the high-priest did bring these prophe- 
cies to his knowledge, may account for the favour with which 
the Jews, notwithstanding the tardiness of their submission, 
were treated by Alexander. At their request, he secured to 
them the undisturbed enjoyment of their national laws and ex- 
emption from tribute every seventh year ; but he demurred 
when the latter privilege was also sought by the Samaritans. 


157 


B. C. 322.] JERUSALEM TAKEN BY PTOLEMY. 

While he was absent, conquering Egypt, the Samaritans gave 
him so much displeasure that, so far from rendering them any 
favour, he expelled them from Samaria and re-peopled it by a 
colony of Macedonians. The dispossessed Samaritans then re- 
paired to the city of Shechem, between Mounts Ebal and Geri- 
zim, which became their metropolis. 

8. After the death of Alexander, the vast empire which he 
had won was divided among his generals, and Judsea, from its 
situation between Egypt and Syria, suffered dreadfully, and 
was deeply involved in the bitter contests in which his successors 
were soon engaged against each other. It is our purpose not to 
relate the particulars of these contests, but to glean from them the 
facts which directly affected the condition of the Jewish people. 

9. In the first division of Alexander’s empire, Syria with Pa- 
lestine devolved to Laomedon, and Egypt to Ptolemy Lagus. 
Between them a war arose, and the former was defeated by 
Nicanor, one of the generals of Ptolemy. All the provinces of 
Laomedon then submitted to Ptolemy ; but the Jews manifest- 
ed so much reluctance to violate their engagements, that Ptole- 
my advanced against Jerusalem with a large army and laid 
close siege to the city. Knowing that the religious veneration 
of the Jews for the Sabbath prevented them from fighting on 
that day, he assaulted and took the city on the Sabbath. But 
he did not treat them with severity ; for although he sent a large 
number of. Jews into Egypt, it was rather as colonists than as 
prisoners. Indeed, before this, many Jews had been removed 
to Egypt by Alexander, to help to people his new city of Alex- 
andria, where they were allowed civic privileges of the first 
class,. the same as the Greek inhabitants enjoyed, These pri- 
vileges were confirmed by Ptolemy, who also advanced many 
of those he took away to places of authority and trust, in con- 
sequence of which many more went to Egypt of their own ac- 
cord. Eight years after, Ptolemy transported another large 
body of them, whom he settled in the provinces of Lybia and 
Cyrene. By successive deportations of this description, and 
by the voluntary removals of Jews, who sought under the sha- 
dow of the Egyptian throne the peace which they could not find 
in their own country, Egypt became, and long continued, an 
important seat of the Jewish population. 

10. Sacred Writers . — The book of Nehemiah has the singu- 

larity of being written in the first person, and was, therefore, 
without doubt, the production of the eminent man whose name 
it bears. It gives a clear and plain account of his administra- 
tion, and has, more than any other portion of Scripture, the ef- 
fect of an autobiographical narrative. Malachi, the last of the 
prophets, belonged to the time of Nehemiah. Nothing what- 
ever is known of him. He reproved the abuses which Nehe- 
miah laboured to correct. It is remarkable that his prophecy 
closes the Old Testament with an announcement of John the 
Baptist, with whose birth and ministry the history of the New 
Testament opens. o 


158 


CHAPTER V. B. C. 314 to 187. 


THE 

JEWS. 

B. C. 

Simon I., 

high- 


priest, . 

• 

302 

Eleazer, . 

• • 

283 

Manasses, 
Onias 11., 

• • • 

251 

• • • 

225 

Simon, II., 
Onias III., 

• • • 

211 

• . • 

191 


EGYPT. 

B. C- 

Ptoelmy Lagus, . 324 
P. Philadelphia, . 284 
P. Euergetes I., . 246 
P. Philopater, . . 220 
P. Epiphanes, . . 204 


SYRIA. 

b. c. 

Seleucus I., Nica- 
tor, .... 312 
Antiochus I., Soter, 280 
Antiochus II., 

Theos, .... 261 
Seleucus II., Callini- 

cus, 246 

Seleucus III., Kerau- 

nus, 226 

Antiochus III., the 
Great, .... 223 
Seleucus IV., Philo- 
pater, .... 187 


GENERAL. HISTORY. 


REMARKABLE PERSONS. 


B. C. 

JEra of the Seleucidae begins, . 312 
Alexander’s generals take the 

title of kings, 306 

Antigonus defeated and killed, '301 
Seleucus on the Tigris built, 291 

The Septuagint translation of 
the Old Testament, . . . 184 

Pyrrhus, king of Ephirus, enters 
Italy, . . . .' .... 280 

First Punic war begins, . . . 264 
Regulus taken prisoner, . . 256 

The temple of Janus shut, . 235 
The Colossus of Rhodes over- 
thrown by an earthquake, . 224 
Second Punic war begins, . . 218 
The battle of Cannae, . . . 216 

Hannibal defeated in Africa by 

Scipio, . . • 202 

Second Punic war ends, . . 201 

Hannibal goes to Antiochus III., 195 
First Roman army in Asia, un- 
der Scipio Asiaticus : defeats 
Antiochus, 190 


b. c. 

Antipater 06 ., 319 

Eumenes ob., 315 

Antigonus, 311 

Demetrius Poliorcetes, . . 307 

Epicurus, 295 

Theocritus, 281 

Berosus, 268 

Manetho, 261 

Callimachus, 260 

Hanno, 257 

Regulus, 258 

Hamilcar, 248 

Archimedes, .*.... 236 

Apollonius, 230 

Plautus, 220 

Hannibal, 220 

Q. Fabius Maximus, . . .216 

Zeno, 210 

Asdrubal, 211 

Scipio Africanus, 204 

Scipio Asiaticus, ..... 190 


1. Ptolemy Lagus did not long remain in undisturbed pos- 
session of Palestine, which, with Phoenicia and Ceole-Syria, 
was wrested from him by Antigonus, one of the most ambitious 
and turbulent of the generals who shared the empire of Alex- 
ander. But after he had been overthrown and slain by Seleucus 
and Lysimachus, in the decisive battle of Issus, Ptolemy quietly 
recovered and retained this important province ; and by the wis- 
dom and justice of his government, promoted the prosperity 
and gained the affections of the Jewish people. During his 
reign, Simon the Just, a most excellent high-priest, repaired and 
improved the city and temple of Jerusalem, and provided both 


159 


B.C. 278.] TRANSLATION OF SCRIPTURES INTO GREEK. 

with strong and lofty walls. He also completed the canon of 
the Old Testament Scriptures by adding the books of Ezra, Ne- 
liemiah, Chronicles, Esther and the prophecies of Malachi. In 
B. C. 300, he succeeded Onias, the successor of Jaddua, and died 
in B. C. 291. 

2. Meanwhile a power arose in Asia, which was by far the 
greatest of those which were formed out of the spoils of Alex- 
ander’s empire. It was founded by Seleucus, who took the title 
of king of Syria. His dominion extended from the Euxine to 
the borders of Arabia, and from the Mediterranean to the Indus. 
His eastern capital was Seleucus on the Tigris, aud his west- 
ern Antioch. Both these cities, and many others, were found- 
ed by him. Being, like Ptolemy, convinced of the value of 
the Jews as good and faithful citizens, he endeavoured to 
attract them to his new cities in Asia Minor by the offer of 
the same privileges as Ptolemy had allowed them in Egypt. 
Many Jews accepted the invitation ; and hence, in later periods, 
we find them established in considerable numbers in the prin- 
cipal cities of Asia Minor as well as of Egypt. 

3. Ptolemy Philadelphus sncceeded his father Ptolemy Lagus 
in B. C. 285. He confirmed to the Jews all their former privi- 
leges. He induced large numbers of them to settle in Egypt, 
and to promote that object ransomed many who had been sold 
for slaves. This king was a great patron of literature, and 
spared no cost in procuring curious books for the famous library 
which he established at Alexandria. He caused the Hebrew 
Scriptures to be translated into Greek, and deposited in that li- 
brary. This important translation still exists under the name of 
the Septuagint, from the tradition that seventy persons were 
employed in the translation. The prophecies of the Hebrew 
books had lately attracted some attention, and the authentic his- 
tory of a people so closely connected with Egypt as the Jews, 
must have been deemed interesting. These were probably the 
reasons which led Philadelphus to desire this translation. By 
its means the religion of the Jews became better known to the 
heathen, and we afterwards hear of magnificent presents being 
sent by them to the temple of Jerusalem. The translation may 
be referred to the year B. C. 278 : a correct copy of the original 
also was provided by the care of Eleazer the high-priest, son of 
Simon the Just. 

4. Ptolemy Euergetes, the next king of Egypt, considerably 
enlarged the privileges of the Jews, and testified his respect for 
their God by offering a vast number of victims in sacrifice at 
Jerusalem. 

6. In the next reign, that of Ptolemy Philopater, the peace 
which the Jews had** enjoyed under the Egyptian kings began 
to be seriously disturbed. Antiochus III. surnamed the Great, 
king of Syria* greatly desired to annex to his own dominions 
the provinces of Palestine which had been held by the kings 
of Egypt, whom he made some vigorous efforts to dispossess. 


160 


DEATH OF PHILOPATER. 


[b. C. 205 . 

But after being for a time successful, he was at length defeated 
with great loss by Philopater, who soon after repaired to Jeru- 
salem, and offered many sacrifices to Jehovah in acknowledg- 
ment of his recent victory. Unfortunately the beauty and rich- 
ness of the building attracted his attention, and he desired to 
view the interior. This was resisted by the high-priest Simon 
II. who informed him that it was unlawful even for the priests 
to enter the inner sanctuary. The king persisted; but as he 
was walking across the inner court to enter the sacred place, a 
sudden dread and horror came over him, and he fell speechless 
to the ground. He was carried out, half dead by his attendants. 
This circumstance" acting upon an ill constituted mind, filled the 
king with great resentment against the Jewish people, and, on 
his return to Egypt, he raised a bitter persecution against those 
who had settled in that kingdom. He took away their high 
privileges, and caused them to be enrolled with the lowest class 
of the native Egyptians ; and many were, on various alleged 
grounds, consigned to slavery and to death. It is even said that 
he contemplated the extirpation of the Jewish race, and that 
beginning with those of Egypt, he caused a large number of 
them to be brought together at Alexandria, with the view of 
having them publicly destroyed by elephants in the hippodrome. 
A vast multitude of people assembled to view the horrid spec- 
tacle, and the king himself was present with his court. The 
elephants, to render them furious, had been previously inebria- 
ted with wine and frankincense ; but instead of slaying the vic- 
tims exposed to their rage, they turned their fury upon the 
spectators, of whom great numbers were destroyed, while the 
Jews remained altogether unhurt. Public opinion recognized 
in this an interposition of Heaven in their behalf ; and we are 
told that Philopater desisted from his designs, and restored to 
the Jews their former privileges. The whole of this account, 
however, rests on authority in which implicit confidence cannot 
be placed. 

6. Philopater died in B. C. 205, leaving the crown to Ptolemy 
Epiphanes, then a child of five years old. Antiochus the Great 
had meanwhile, by a series of successes in the east, greatly ex- 
tended his authority and power ; and having now returned to 
the west, he deemed the conjuncture favourable for a fresh at- 
tempt to wrest the Syrian provinces from the Egyptian crown. 
He succeded ; and the Jews manifested great readiness in plac- 
ing themselves under his rule. Considering their general at- 
tachment to Egypt, this must be accounted for by their resent- 
ment at the treatment of Philopater, and by their satisfaction 
at the kindness and liberality of Antiochus to the numerous 
Jews who were settled in his dominions on both sides of the 
Euphrates. Antiochus was much gratified by the proofs of at- 
tachment which he received ; and when he visited Jerusalem 
in B. C. 193, he conferred on it such favours as he knew were 
best calculated to win the hearts of the inhabitants. He prom- 


t 


b. c. 174.] Jason, high priest. 161 

ised to restore the city to its ancient splendour, and to repair 
the temple at his own cost: he made provision for the regular 
performances of the sacred services, and he guaranteed the tem- 
ple from the intrusion of strangers. By bestowing these favours, 
with the confirmation of their political privileges, Antiochus 
shewed that he well understood the remarkable people with 
whom he had to deal. 

7. The troubles in which Antiochus became involved with the 
Romans, who now began to take part in the affairs of Western 
Asia, littleconcerned the Jews. They might have continued to en- 
joy tranquillity under his successor ; for Seleucus Philopater was 
as well disposed towards the Jews as his father had been, and 
gave orders that the charges for the public worship should con- 
tinue to be defrayed out of his own treasury. An unhappy al- 
tercation, however, between Onias II, and Simon the Governor 
of the temple, changed the aspect of affairs. The latter, in 
consequence of his quarrel, sent to the king a very exaggerated 
account of the wealth contained in the temple; and Seleucus, 
being in great want of money, determined to appropriate all this 
treasure to himself. He therefore sent his treasurer Heliodorus 
to seize it and bring it to Antioch. When this functionary 
arrived at Jerusalem, Onias endeavoured to dissuade him from 
his purpose, assuring him that the fund was not considerable, 
and that it was devoted to charitable uses. But Heliodorus per- 
sisted in executing his commission, and was about to enter the 
temple, when he was terror-struck by an awful vision, and 
quickly withdrew not only from the temple but from the city, 
which he declared to be under the protection of a power which 
no man could withstand. 

8. The high-priest soon followed him to Antioch, to complain 
to Seleucus of the misconduct of Simon, which he placed in so 
strong a light as to procure his banishment from Jerusalem, 
whereby peace was once more restored to the city. 


CHAPTER VI. B. C. 175 to 169. 


THE JEWS. 

B. C. 

Jason, high-priest, . 174 
Menelaus, high-priest , 1 72 


EGYPT. 


SYRIA. 


B. C. 

Ptolemy Philometer 
and Ptolemy Phys- 
con, . . . 175 


b. c. 

Antiochus IV,, Epi- 
phanes, . . . 175 


1. The Jews had now been so long under the Greek mon- 
archs of Egypt and Syria, that they had become well acquaint- 
ed with the customs, the literature, and the philosophy of the 
Greeks. A large party regarded the manners of that people 
0 * 


162 


MENELAUS, HIGH PRIEST. 


[b. c. 172. 


with preference, and their religion without displeasure, and 
were willing to sink the distinctive peculiarities of their own 
practices and faith. Of this number was Jesus, the brother of 
the high-priest Onias, whose predilections were manifested by 
the Greek name of Jason which he assumed. He offered a 
large sum of money for the high priesthood to Antiochus Epi- 
phanes, who succeeded Seleucus Philopater in B. C. 175. His 
offer was accepted. Onias was called to Antioch, and kept there 
a prisoner at large, and Jason took his place. The party which 
gathered around this man was considerable ; for not only was 
there among the educated classes a strong leaning towards the 
Greek customs, to which he was known to be favourable, but 
the citizenship of Antioch, which he had been empowered to 
bestow, was to them an object of great desire. Jason delayed 
not to establish at Jerusalem a gymnasium for athletic exercises, 
which soon became so popular, that even the priests neglected 
the temple services to be present at the games. Jason also 
established an academy for bringing up the Hebrew youth after 
the manner of the Greeks ; and by every kind of influence he 
encouraged the adoption of Greek customs and habits, not only 
of external life, but of action and thought. It appears, however, 
that the Jews generally, and even his own adherents, were not 
prepared to go so far as himself; and when he sent some young 
men to Tyre, to assist at the games celebrated there in honour 
of the Tyrian Hercules, and entrusted them with large sums of 
money to expend in sacrifices to that idol, they chose rather to 
give the money for the building of ships. Jason did not long 
enjoy his ill-gotten dignity ; for after three years he was sup- 
planted in turn by his younger brother, Onias IV., or Menelaus, 
who offered the king three hundred talents more for that dig- 
nity than Jason had given. Jason fled to the country of the 
Ammonites. Menelaus proved even more wicked than his 
brother. One of his first acts was to abstract some of the gold- 
en vessels of the temple, and to send them secretly to Tyre for 
sale. The fact, however, transpired, and excited considerable 
ferment, especially among the numerous Jews art Antioch, where 
the exiled high-priest, the venerable Onias, took such notice of 
it as gave deep offence to his brother, who prevailed on Andro- 
nicus, the king’s deputy at Antioch, to put him to death; for 
which deed Andronicus was nimself slain on the same spot by 
order of the king when he returned to the capital. 

2. Soon after Antiochus engaged in a war with Egypt. He 
invaded that country twice with success; but a rumour of his 
death was believed in Palestine. This, together with the ab- 
sence of the Syrian forces, encouraged the exiled Jason to at- 
tempt the recovery of his lost power. With a body of one 
thousand men, assisted by friends within the city, he surprised 
Jerusalem, and inflicted great severities upon the adherents of 
Menelaus, who himself sought refuge in the castle. The re- 
turn of Antiochus, however, compelled him to abandon the 


163 


B. C. 169,] ANTIOCHUS PLUNDERS THE TEMPLE. 

city and the power which he thought he had recovered ; and 
after wandering from place to place, he died miserably in Lace- 
dsemonia. Antiochus, provoked at the satisfaction which the 
news of his death appeared to have given the Jews, chose to 
consider the transaction as revolt, and punished it accordingly. 
The city was abandoned to the fury and licence of the soldiers 
for three days, during which four thousand of the inhabitants 
were slain, and nearly an equal number carried away and sold 
for slaves. The king, conducted by the impious Menelaus, 
then entered the temple, which he plundered of all its treasures, 
vessels, and golden ornaments, and carried away one thousand 
eight hundred talents of gold and silver to Antioch. But he 
did not quit the place until he had offered to the people and 
their god the outrage of sacrificing a large hog upon the altar 
of burnt-offerings. Menelaus was left in the high priesthood ; 
for although he was hated by the people, no one dared to move 
against one who stood so high in the favour of the king. 

3. In another invasion of Egypt, Antiochus was met by the 
Roman ambassadors, who, in the name of the Senate, com- 
manded him to desist from the enterprise, and, drawing a circle 
around him on the sand, forbade him to quit it until he decided 
between the friendship and the enmity of Rome. He bent his 
proud heart to the hard task of obedience, and turned homeward 
with the formidable army he had assembled for this enterprise. 
Burning with the sense of his disgrace, he failed not to wreak 
a portion of his wrath on the Jews as he returned. The baffled 
tyrant detached Apollonius to Jerusalem with an army of twen- 
ty-two thousand men, commanding him to destroy the city, to 
massacre the male inhabitants, and to sell the women and chil- 
dren for slaves. Apollonius entered the city peaceably, and 
gave no sign of his intentions until the first Sabbath-day after 
his arrival. Then, while the people were engaged in the solemn 
worship of the Most High, he executed this dreadful commission 
with unrelenting ferocity. After having slain great multitudes 
of the people, and sent away ten thousand captives, he plunder- 
ed the city, after which it was set on fire, and the wall demo- 
lished. The Temple was allowed to stand, but its service was 
altogether abandoned; for it was commanded by a fortress 
which the Syrians erected, and from which the soldiers assault- 
ed all who went there to worship. Thus in the month of June, 
B. C. 168, the daily sacrifices of the temple ceased, and the 
city of Jerusalem was deserted. 

4. Antiochus next issued a decree, enjoining the establish- 
ment of the Grecian form of idolatry throughout his wide do- 
minions, that the various nations under his sway might, by the 
relinquishment of their distinctive observances, “ become one 
people.” When we consider the variety of the forms of worship 
among the different nations in the empire of Antiochus, it is 
scarcely credible that so wild a project was seriously entertain- 
ed ; nor is it likely that the decree was exclusively levelled 
I 


164 ANTIOCHUS ESTABLISHES IDOLATRY, [b. C. 168. 

against the Jewish people ; but it is more probable, that his ob- 
ject was to find a pretext for plundering the temples of the re- 
cusants ; and as the temples were, from their sanctity, the great 
banks of deposit in those times, their spoils offered great temp- 
tations to so needy a king as Antiochus. Although the temple 
of the Jews had been already plundered, his hatred to that peo- 
ple was gratified by the sufferings in which this law involved 
them ; and so rigidly was it enforced, that death was the pe- 
nalty of disobedience. What reception this decree met with 
among the heathen, is scarcely known ; but except the Jews 
and the Persians there were few nations likely to offer any seri- 
ous opposition. Officers were especially appointed to enforce 
the decree in every province. In the different towns, many of 
the Jews submitted to sacrifice to idols, and to profane the Sab- 
bath. The Samaritans consented to receive the statue of Jupi- 
ter Xenius into their temple on Mount Gerizim ; and the temple 
of God at Jerusalem was dedicated to Jupiter Olympius, his 
statue placed therein, and sacrifices regularly offered to him. 
Such of the Jews as refused to share in this worship, or to 
evince their conformity by eating swine’s flesh, were cruelly 
massacred, or subjected to the most exquisite tortures. The 
same proceedings were repeated in other towns ; for the idol 
altars, groves, and statues were everywhere set up, and every- 
where the tests of obedience were exacted. It was not long, 
however, before Antiochus perceived that, in as far as the Jews 
were concerned, his decree was less effectual than he had ex- 
pected. He therefore issued another decree, forbidding, under 
pain of death, the worship of Jehovah, and the observance of 
the distinctive requirements of the Mosaical law, such as cir- 
cumcision and the Sabbath. He went further, and endeavoured 
to extinguish the law itself, forbidding it to be read, and com- 
manding every copy to be given up under pain of death. It was 
in this emergency that the Jews commenced reading lessons 
from the prophets instead of the law, in their synagogues ; 
and when afterwards they resumed the reading of the law, 
they did not cease to read the prophets ; whence arose the sub- 
sequent use of both in their synagogues. Many, as we have 
said, apostatized under these trying circumstances ; but many 
also were found faithful to the death, and many others went 
forth to wander in deserts and in mountains, in dens and caves 
of the earth, subsisting on such herbs and roots as they could 
find in those solitary places. 

5. Astonished at the obstinacy which the Jews manifested, 
Antiochus, mistrusting the zeal of his officers, repaired himself 
to Jerusalem to see that his decree was rigidly enforced. It 
were charity to suppose that Antiochus Epiphane? had by this 
time become mad ; for it is difficult otherwise to imagine how 
any human creature would endure to witness, much less to take 
delight in, the horrid tortures and cruel deaths to which the un- 
happy recusants were subjected. As examples of these dreadful 


MATTATHIAS. 


165 


[b. c. I6.i 

transactions, the historian relates at length the case of the vene- 
rable Eleazer, who, in his ninetieth year, chose rather to die 
than to eat the forbidden flesh of swine ; and of the heroic mo- 
ther and her seven sons, who nobly set the tyrant at defiance, 
and placed their faith and hope that “ the king of the world 
would raise up those that died for his laws to everlasting life.” 


BOOK VII. 

CHAPTER I. 167 to 163. 


THE JEWS. EGYPT. 

B. C. B, C. 

Menelaus high- P. Philometer and 

priest, . . , 172 P. Physcon, . 175 

Judas Maccabaeus, 1631 
Alcimus, . . . 1611 


SYRIA. 

B. C. 

Antiochus (IV.) 

Epiphanes. . 175 

Antiochus (V.) Eu- 
pater, ... 164 


1. The persecution by Antiochus had raged about half a year, 
when God raised up deliverance for his people in the noble 
family of the Asamoneans, Mattathias and his sons, better 
known as the Maccabees. Asamoneus, from whom the family 
took its name, was the great-grandfather of Mattathias, a priest 
descended from Phineas, the son of Eleazer, the elder branch 
of the family of Aaron. This Mattathias was a person of con- 
sequence and influence in his native city of Modin, for which 
reason the king’s commissioner at that place was anxious that 
he should there set the example of compliance with the royal 
mandate. But Mattathias, on his own behalf and that of his 
sons, repelled with indignation the inducements which were 
offered : and, in a transport of holy zeal, he ran and smote down 
a Jew who at that moment advanced to offer sacrifice at the altar. 
By this act the sword was drawn, which was to be sheathed 
no more till Israel was free. Animated by the same impulse, 
his sons and a few others gathered around Mattathias, and fell 
upon and slew the commissioner himself and his attendants; 
after which they passed through the city, calling upon all who 
were zealous for the law ot Gcd to follow them. Many were 
roused by their call ; but as the number was as yet small to 
meet the enemy, they withdrew for a time into the wilderness. 
They were speedily followed thither by the king’s troops, and 
being attacked on the Sabbath uay, many suffered themselves 
to be slain without offeriug the least resistance. Mattathias 
saw the fatal consequences cf this practice, as it had fora long 
time been usual for the enemies of the Jews to attack them on 


166 


JUDAS MACCABEUS. 


[b. c. 163 

a day when it was known they would not fight. He therefore 
directed that henceforth they should stand on their defence 
even on the Sabbath day ; and this order, being properly con- 
firmed, guided the future practice of the Jewish people, who 
still, however, refused to act, except on the defensive, on the 
sacred day. 

2. The standard of revolt being now erected, all who were 
zealous for liberty and truth repaired to it, so that Mattathias 
soon found himself sufficiently strong to act on the offensive. 
They then left their retreat, and went, chiefly by night, through- 
out the country, pulling down the idolatrous altars, and destroy- 
ing their persecutors wherever they met with them. They also 
re-opened the synagogues, enforced the rites enjoined by the 
law, and recovered many of the sacred books which had fallen 
into the hands of the heathen. A year of such exertions great- 
ly improved the aspect of affairs, when death arrested the 
career of the heroic priest. He left five sons, John, Simon, 
Judas, Eleazer, and Jonathan. The dying advice of the father 
was, that the judicious Simon should be their counsellor, and 
the valiant Judas their captain. Judas is said to have derived 
his surname of Maccabeus from a cabalistic word formed of M. 
C. B. J,, the initial letters of the words contained in the sacred 
text which he bore upon his standard.* He proved himself a 
bold and able commander, and, in many respects, may be con- 
sidered the greatest hero which the Jewish nation ever pro- 
duced. With a force not exceeding 6000 men he took the field 
against the large and well-disciplined armies of Antiochus, com- 
manded by warriors of reputation, and defeated them all. In 
the first instance, the defeat of Apollonius the governor of Sa- 
maria, enabled him to make himself master of some of the prin- 
cipal towns and fortresses of Judaea, from which he expelled 
the Jews who had turned to idolatry. Then a powerful army 
under a great general called Seron, took the field against Judas. 
After encouraging his men, who were somewhat alarmed at 
the immense disparity of numbers, the hero fell upon the en- 
emy with great fury, so that their force was broken and they 
fled before him. This victory made the name of Judas renown- 
ed in all the neighbouring states. Antiochus himself saw that 
this revolt required more attention than he had given to it, and 
resolving to crush it, he repeatedly sent formidable armies into 
Judaea, commanded by his most able officers. But the valiant 
Maccabeus maintained his ground, and in one year defeated the 
Syrians five times, in as many pitched battles. The last of 
these engagements was with Lysias, the regent of Syria, dur- 
ing the absence of Antiochus in Persia, whose army amounted 
to 60,000 choice infantry and 5000 horse. This formidable 
army was met by Judas with only 10,000 men, at Bethzur; and 


• The text was Exod. xv. 11. Mi Chamoka Baalim Jahoh “Who is 
like unto thee among the gods. O Lord 1” 


B. C. 164.] ANTIOCHUS DIES. 167 

after calling on God, “ Cast them down with the sword of them 
that love thee,” — he assailed them with such vigour that 
thousands of them were slain and the rest put to flight. Ly- 
sias was astonished at the desperate valour of the Jews, and 
conducted the remnant of his army back to Antioch. 

3. This great success encouraged Judas to march at once to 
Jerusalem. He gained possession of the city and the temple, 
and after purifying both from every trace of the Syrian idola- 
tries, the temple was consecrated anew to the service of God, 
and the daily sacrifices and worship were resumed after a ca- 
lamitous interruption of three years. This new dedication of 
the temple and revival of their worship, was ever after cele- 
brated by a feast which occurred about the winter solstice 
(John, x. 22). 

4. The Jews were not, however, able to expel the Syrian gar- 
rison from the fortress which had been built by Apollonius to 
overlook the temple. They therefore protected the temple it- 
self by surrounding it with high walls and towers, within which 
they Kept a valiant and watchful garrison. 

5. In the east, Antiochus appears to have been little more 
successful than were his generals in the west. He was re- 
pulsed in an attempt to plunder the rich temple at Elymais in 
Persia, and withdrew in anger and shame to Ecbatana. There 
news reached him of the repeated losses which his arms had 
sustained in Judea, and that the country was in possession of 
the Jews. On receiving this intelligence, his rage passed all 
bounds, and he denounced the most horrible vengeance upon that 
land and people. But while the words were in his mouth, he 
was smitten with a loathsome and incurable disease, in which 
he lingered under the most excruciating torments. In his last 
days, he confessed to those around him that he was smitten by 
the hand of God, in punishment for his desecration of the tem- 
ple and his persecution of the Jews. “I perceive, therefore,” 
he said, “that for this cause these troubles come upon me; 
and, behold, I perish through griefin a strange land.” He died 
in the beginning of B. C. 164. 

6. Although the Jews were thus delivered from the most in- 
veterate enemy that they had ever known, the war was still 
carried on by the regent Lysias, in the name of Antiochus Eu- 
pater, a child, the son of the late king. But although this army 
was much stronger than the last, it was completely routed; and 
then the regent, confessing the wickedness of contending with 
the mighty God who defended the Jewish people, offered peace 
on reasonable terms, which the Jewish leaders thought it right 
to accept, and in obtaining which the Roman ambassadors used 
their commanding influence. The high-priest Menelaus took 
this occasion to return home and resume his pontificate. (2 
Macc. xi.) 

7. The Jews at Jerusalem were, however, still much annoy- 
ed by the presence of the Syrian garrison in the castle, Judas, 


168 


JUDAS MADE GOVERNOR. 


[b. c. 163. 

therefore, laid siege to this fortress, determined, if possible, to 
rid the capital of so serious an inconvenience. There were 
many apostate Jews in the castle ; and they, dreading the 
treatment they might expect from the orthodox Jews, if 
it fell into their hands, withdrew secretly and hastened to 
Antioch, where their representations invited the regent and the 
young king to undertake a new war against Judaea. The army 
which was raised for this purpose, was evidently intended to 
extinguish the nation. It consisted of 100,000 foot, 20,000 horse, 
32 war elephants, and 300 chariots armed with scythes. With 
this mighty host, Lysias proceeded southward and besieged 
Bethsura, a strong fortress which had been built to protect the 
frontier towards Idumaea. Judas could not induce his men to 
risk a pitched battle with such a host: but they fell upon the 
invaders by night, and before they knew who had entered their 
camp, four thousand of them were dead men. The Jews drew 
off in safety by break of day. The next morning they came to 
battle ; and Judas, to avoid being surrounded by the Syrians, 
was forced to withdraw to Jerusalem, which had by this time 
been put in a good state of defence. In this battle Judas lost 
his brother Eleazer, who was crushed to death by the fall of an 
elephant, which he himself slew under the erroneous impres- 
sion that the king rode upon it. (1 Macc. vi. IS — 47 ; 2 Macc. 
xiii. 15-22). 

8. The Jews were now in great peril ; for the Syrian army, 
after taking Bethsura, and placing a strong garrison there, ad- 
vanced to Jerusalem, which they closely besieged, and, in all 
human probability, would have soon taken. But at this junc- 
ture the regent received intelligence that Philip, a rival regent, 
whom the late king had appointed on his death-bed, had en- 
tered Syria with a large army, and had taken possession of An- 
tioch. He therefore concluded a treaty with the Jews, grant- 
ing all their demands. He then threw down the strong walls 
around the temple mount, in violation of the treaty, and has- 
tened to encounter Philip, whom he utterly overthrew (1 Macc. 
vi. 48-65 ; 2 Macc* xiii. 3-23). Meneiaus, the apostate high- 
priest, who had again deserted to the Syrians, and had encour- 
aged the expedition in the hope of obtaining the government of 
Judaea, being viewed by them as the real author of their disas- 
ters, was, by the royal order, smothered by being thrown into 
an ash-pit at Berea. JudaS himself was now recognised as 
governor of Judaea ; and it is from this year (B. C. 163) that 
his accession to the principality is usually dated. 


169 


CHAPTER II. B. C. 163 to 143. 


ASMONEAN PRINCES. 

B. C. 

Judas Maccabeus, 163 
Alcimus,high-priest,163 
Jonathan, . 160 

High-priest, 153 


EGYPT. 

b. c. 

Ptolemy Philometer,l60 
Ptolemy Physcon, 145 


SYRIA. 

B. c. 

Demetrius Soter, 

162 

Alexander Balas, 

150 

Demetrius Nicator, 
Antiochus (VI.) 

145 

Theos 

144 

Tryphon 

143 


GENERAL HISTORY. 


B. C. 

Demetrius Soter defeated and killed by Alexander Balas, 150 
Third Punic War begins, and lasts three years, . 149 

Carthage destroyed by Scipio Nasica, . . . 148 

Corinth destroyed by L. Mummius, . . . 148 


1. The vacant hi^h-priesthood was given to Alcimus or Ja- 
cimus, to the exclusion of the rightful successor, Onias, the son 
of him who had been murdered at Antioch at the instigation of 
Menelaus. This disappointment induced Onias to retire into 
Egypt. He was there received with favour by Ptolemy Philo- 
meter, and used his influence to obtain leave to found a temple 
for the numerous Jews in that country. It was built at On or 
Heliopolis, “ the city of the sun,” after the model of the temple 
at Jerusalem, but not so large or magnificent. Onias was ap- 
pointed high-priest : there were also inferior priests and Levites, 
and the services were conducted as at Jerusalem, until the time 
of Vespasian, in whose reign both temples were destroyed. 

2. Alcimus, the new high-priest, was a man of loose princi- 
ples, which, with his known attachment to the Grecian idola- 
tries, rendered him so obnoxious to the Jews, that they very 
soon expelled him from the land. 

3. Shortly after, Antiochus Eupator, and the regent Lysias, 
were defeated and slain by Demetrius Soter, the rightful heir 
to the throne,* who had hitherto been detained as a hostage at 
Rome. This prince was no sooner established on the Syrian 
throne than all the Jewish traitors and apostates, with Alcimus 
at their head, came around him with many grievous complaints 
against Judas and his party ; and Alcimus made it appear that 
his own expulsion was an act of strong contempt towards that 
power by which he had been invested with the pontificate. 
Listening to these complaints, Demetrius re-appointed Alcimus 


* Demetrius was the son of Seleucus Philopater, who was succeeded 
by his brother Antiochus Epiphanes, who left the crown to his son Antio- 
chus Eupator. 


1^6 DEATH OF JUDAS MACCABEUS. [b. C. 161. 

to the high-priesthood, and sent Bacchides, the governor of 
Mesopotamia, to re-instate him in his office, and take vengeance 
on his enemies. This commander entered the country without 
any hostile manifestations ; and many Jews, who, relying on 
his fair professions, had put themselves into his power, were 
treacherously slain. Bacchides then, having met with no op- 
position, left the country in charge of Alcimus, with a force 
considered sufficient to secure him in his place. But he had 
no sooner withdrawn, than Judas, who had retired before him, 
appeared again, and easily recovered the position which he had 
seemed for the moment to abandon. Alcimus, being unable to 
offer any effectual resistance, again repaired to Antioch, with 
renewed and more earnest complaints to the king. Another 
and more powerful army was accordingly sent into Judaea, un- 
der Nicador. He was twice defeated by Judas, — the last time 
so completely, that of 35,000 men, not one escaped alive to 
bear the tidings to Antioch. This great victory procured the 
nation an interval of rest, and was deemed of so much impor- 
tance by the Jews, that they established an annual festival of 
commemoration. (1 Macc. vii. 4 — 50 ; 2 Macc. xiv. 2 — 16; xv. 
1—37). 

4. A step was then taken by Judas, which some have prais- 
ed, and others blamed ; but which will probably be considered, 
by those who are the most intimately acquainted with the his- 
tory of the time, to be the best which could have been taken 
under all the circumstances. He sent an embassy to Rome, to 
solicit the friendship of that powerful nation, whose influence 
had for some time been paramount in Syria and in Egypt. It 
quite consisted with the policy of the Roman senate to weaken 
the great states, by forming alliances with the lesser nations 
which depended on them. The Jewish ambassadors were 
therefore received with favour, and the Romans readily con- 
cluded a treaty, which could not possibly be injurious to them- 
selves, and might yet be of some advantage to the Jews. The 
immediate result of this alliance was, that the senate sent a 
missive to Demetrius, commanding him, on pain of their dis- 
pleasure, to abstain from persecuting the Jews in time to come. 
But before the ambassadors returned, the valiant Judas had met 
his death, in a desperate conflict with Bacchides and Alcimus, 
who had been sent to avenge the destruction of Mcanor and 
his host. The brothers of Judas, Simon and Jonathan, having 
made a truce, deposited the body of the hero in the family 
sepulere at Modin, which was not far off, and all Israel mourn- 
ed for many days, crying “ How is the valiant fallen, that de- 
livered Israel !” 

5. The death of their great leader threw the Jews into such 
consternation, that the Syrians easily reaped the fruits of their 
victory. They reduced Jerusalem, and slew many of the adhe- 
rents of the Maccabees ; and Alcimus was once more restored 
to the high-priesthood. Incapable of profiting by experience, 


JONATHAN, HIGH PRIEST. 


171 


b.c. 153.] 


this man persisted in his former courses. He made many in- 
novations in the religion of his country, in order to produce a 
greater conformity to the practices of the heathen. At length, 
with the view of admitting the Gentiles equally with the Jews 
to the inner courts of the temple, he proceeded to break down 
the separating wall, when he was suddenly cut off in the full 
career of his guilt, and died in the most dreadful agonies. On 
the occurrence of this event, Bacchides, who had remained in 
the country, returned to Syria, and the Jews were left for two 
years unmolested. Jonathan, the youngest brother of Judas, 
who had been elected by the orthodox Jews as their prince and 
leader in his place, employed this interval in establishing a re- 
gular government, and in effecting various important reforms in 
the civil and ecclesiastical affairs of his country. 

6. After two years, the adverse faction, growing uneasy at 
the prospect of continued peace, recommenced their operations. 
They conspired to seize Jonathan, and all his adherents through- 
out the land, in one night ; and invited Bacchides to aid their 
project by a military force. This became known to Jonathan, 
who, after putting fifty of the leading conspirators to death, 
withdrew with Simon and his friends to Bethbasi in the wild- 
erness, not feeling strong enough to meet Bacchides in the field. 
This was a strong post ; and the dilapidated fortifications hav- 
ing been put into complete repair, the besieged were enabled 
to hold out so long, and so to harass the enemy by daring sal- 
lies and excursions, that Bacchides at length grew weary of an 
expedition from which so little honour was to be won, and put 
those to death who had engaged him in it. In this mood he 
listened to the overtures of peace made by Jonathan, and, after 
an exchange of prisoners, withdrew his forces, engaging to 
trouble the land no more. 

7. Three years after this, a conjuncture of affairs arose in 
Syria highly favourable to the Jewish cause. A claim was set 
up by Alexander Balas to the crown of Syria, which not only 
gave the reigning king, Demetrius, sufficient employment for 
all his disposable forces, but made it the interest of the compe- 
titors to outbid each other for the support and favour of so war- 
like a people as the Jews had now become. Jonathan had, 
meanwhile, been proceeding quietly with his improvements 
and repairs, which, while they enhanced his reputation, gave 
the promise of stability to his government. When the compe- 
titors began to court his friendship, the remembrance of the 
wrongs which Demetrius had inflicted upon the nation, no less 
than good policy, induced him to espouse the cause of Alexan- 
der, who, in return, offered him the high-priesthood. That of- 
fice had been vacant for seven years, and with the unanimous 
consent and approbation of the people, it was accepted by Jon- 
athan. It will be remembered that the Maccabees were de- 
scended from the eldest branch of the family of Aaron. To- 
gether with the offer of the priesthood, Balas sent to Jonathan 


172 


JONATHAN SLAIN. 


[b. c. i43. 

a purple robe and a crown, as ethnarch or prince of Judsea. — 
The chief ecclesiastical, as well as civil power, was then, with 
the full sanction of public opinion, assumed by Jonathan, in the 
seventh month of the same year, at the Feast of Tabernacles 
(B. C. 153), and remained in the family until the usurpation of 
Herod. 

8. Hearing of thisp king Demetrius, resolving to outbid Al- 
exander, sent a long list of privileges and immunities wLich 
he would grant to the Jews, and of honours which he would 
bestow upon Jonathan. But distrusting his sincerity, the peo- 
ple, when the letter was read to them, agreed with their lead- 
ers in adhering to the cause of Alexander Balas. That cause 
was successful ; and when Alexander was at Ptolemais, to es- 
pouse the king of Egypt’s daughter, he gratefully acknowledg- 
ed the efficient assistance he had received from Jonathan du- 
ring the struggle, and treated him with distinguished honours. 

9. Prosperity ruined Alexander Balas. The misconduct of 
the ministers to whom he abandoned all the affairs of govern- 
ment, alienated his friends and encouraged his enemies, a.nd in 
the fifth year his head was laid at the feet of the younger De- 
metrius Soter, by Zabdiel, with whom, after all had been lost, 
the royal fugitive had sought a refuge in Arabia. 

10. As Jonathan had remained true to Balas in this struggle, 
his enemies hailed the success of Demetrius Nicator as the sig- 
nal for his overthrow; and through their representations, he 
was summoned to Antioch. He went, carrying with him val- 
uable presents, and conducted himself so discreetly, that so far 
from disturbing him, Demetrius not only confirmed him in the 
dignities he had received from Balas, but added all the valua- 
ble privileges which had been offered by his father, when he 
endeavoured to outbid Balas for the friendship of Jonathan. 

11. Among his other public acts, Jonathan renewed the trea- 
ty with the Romans, and formed another with the Lacedaemo- 
nians. His government of seventeen years was in the highest 
degree beneficial to his country, and tended much to give to the 
peculiar institutions of the people, which he laboured to reno- 
vate, that determined character which was essential to their 
continuance. His end was afflicting. Disgusted by the perfidy 
of Demetrius, the Jews eagerly espoused the cause of a young 
son of Alexander Balas, who was brought forward by Tryphon, 
formerly governor of Antioch. Eventually this youth was rais- 
ed to the throne, under the name of Antiochus Epiphanes. But 
Tryphon had used him only for his own objects, and contempla- 
ted his removal to make room for himself. To this he saw an 
obstacle in the known attachment of Jonathan to the house of 
Balas ; and this obstacle he resolved to remove by his death, 
which he treacherously and barbarously accomplished at Ptole- 
mais, where Jonathan was slain, with a thousand men who at- 
tended him as guards. This was speedily followed by the mur- 
der of the young king ; and Tryphon placed on his own head 
the blood-stained crown. 


173 


CHAPTER III. B. C. 143 to 78. 


ASMONEAN PRINCES. 

B. C. 

Simon, . . 143 

John Hyrcanus, 135 
Aristobulus, . 107 

Alexander Jannseus 106 
Queen Alexandra, 79 

EGYPT. 

B. C. 

Ptolemy Physcon, 144 
Ptolemy Lathyrus, 116 
Ptolemy Alexander 88 


SYRIA. 

Tryphon . . . 143 
Antiochus (VII.), 
Sidetes, ... 139 
Demetrius Nicator 
II., . . 130 

Alexander Zebina, 127 
Antiochus (VIII.) 

Gryphus, . 123 
Antiochus (IX.), 
Cyzicenus, . 'Ill 
Antiochus VIII. 
and IX. contem- 
poraneously, 100 
Philip and Antiochus 
(X.). Pius, . . 93 

Demetrius Eucaerus, 92 
Tigranes, king of 
Armenia, . . 83 


GENERAL HISTORY. 

B. C. 

Scipio Nasica, 136 
Tiberius Gracchus, 
Tribune, . . 133 

Mithridates the 
Great, . . 123 

Caius Gracchus, tri- 
bune, . . 121 

Caius Marius, tri- 
bune, . . .119 

Jugurthine war be- 
gins (5 years) 111 
Julius Caesar born, 100 
The civil war between 
Marius and Syl- 
la (6 years), 88 
Sylla, dictator, (3 
years,) 82 to 79 
Cicero’s first Ora- 
tion, . . 81 


1. When the Jews heard of the massacre at Ptolemais, and 
the death of their honoured high-priest, they were filled with 
consternation and sorrow. To avert the dangers which this 
state of discouragement threatened, Simon, the only surviving 
brother of Judas and Jonathan, called the people together in 
the temple, and offered himself as their leader. The people 
were encouraged and animated bv the terms in which the of- 
fer was made, and they accepted it with joy. The first act of 
Simon was to put the country in a state of complete defence, 
by repairing all the fortresses, and storing them with provi- 
sions and munitions of war. Then considering, that, bad as the 
conduct of Demetrius Nicator had been, that of Tryphon was 
much worse, Simon sent an embassy to the former offering to 
acknowledge his sovereignty, and to assist him against Try- 
phon. Demetrius, who led an indolent and dissipated life at 
Laodicea, and left the war to his generals, saw the value of 
this offer, which he gladly accepted, and, in return, agreed to 
acknowledge Simon as the high-priest and prince of the Jews, 
to relinquish all claim upon them for tribute, customs, and tax- 
es, and to grant an amnesty for all past offences against him- 
self. This being committed to writing in the form of a royal 
edict, and properly ratified, amounted to a charter of freedom 
and independence ; and was so considered by both parties. Ac- 
cordingly, with this year (B. C. 143), the Jews commenced a 
new epoch, dating from it as from the first year of “ the freedom 
of Jerusalem.’’ This era is used on the coins of Silicon, as well 


174 JERUSALEM BESIEGED BY ANTIOCHUS. [b. C. 141. 

as by Josephus, and by the author of the first book of Macca- 
bees. 

2. The next care of Simon was to reduce the fortresses which 
still held out ; and he had the inexpressible satisfaction of com- 
pelling the Syrian garrison in the citadel of Jerusalem, which 
had so long been a standing grievance to the Maccabees, to 
surrender. He made his son John commander of the forces, 
and ultimately sent him with king Demetrius to the wars in the 
East, where, from his exploits in Hyrcania, he acquired the 
surname ofHyrcanus. In the third year of his reign, he renew- 
ed the alliance with the Romans and Lacedaemonians, and sent 
as a present to the former, a great shield of gold, worth fifty 
thousand pounds. The senate was pleased, and wrote to all 
the kings in these parts, commanding them to consider the 
Jews as friends and allies of the Romans. The next year (B. 
C. 140), Antiochus Sidetes ascended the Syrian throne, his 
brother Demetrius being held in bondage by the Parihians. He 
confirmed to Simon all the grants of his predecessor, and added 
the regal prerogative of coining money. When, however, he 
had subdued and slain the usurper Tryphon, he altered his tone, 
and demanded back the strongholds which Simon had taken, 
and the tribute which had been relinquished. He sent a pow- 
erful army to enforce his demand ; which was met and defeat- 
ed by the Jews under the conduct of Simon’s two eldest sons, 
John and Judas. This victory procured an interval of repose, 
during which Simon and two of his sons were treacherously 
murdered, while on a visit at Jericho to his son-in law, Ptole- 
my, who aspired to his office and power (B. C. 136). He sent 
also to destroy John Hyrcanus, who, however, had timely warn- 
ing, and fled to Jerusalem, where the people elected him in 
his father’s room, and shut their gates against the murderer. 
Baffled in this, Ptolemy applied to Antiochus for an army to 
assist him in bringing the country again under the Syrian yoke. 
Without waiting for his movements, Hyrcanus marched against 
him, and besieged him in a fortress near Jericho, to which he 
had fled. The siege was, however, broken up when the sab- 
batical year opened, and Ptolemy sought refuge beyond the Jor- 
dan until Antiochus should arrive (B. C. 135). What after- 
wards became of him is not known. 

3. Antiochus arrived soon after, with a large army, and be- 
sieged Hyrcanus in Jerusalem, which was reduced to great 
extremities for want of provisions. When the feast of taber- 
nacles approached, Hyrcanus begged a week’s respite for the 
celebration of the festival. This was not only granted, but the 
king supplied rations for the sacrifices, and was in the end so 
much mollified that he concluded a peace, although he knew 
that the city lay at his mercy. But he again reduced the coun- 
try under the Syrian dominion, dismantled Jerusalem, and ex- 
acted tribute for the fortresses which were held out of Judaea. 
Antiochus was, not long after, killed in a battle with the Par- 

jis, from whom Demetrius contrived to escape. Of the con- 


THE PHARISEES. 


175 


b. c. 105.] 

fusion occasioned by these events, Hyrcanus availed himself to 
enlarge his territories, as well as to recover the independence of 
Judaea ; and no sort of service, tribute or homage, was ever paid 
by him or his descendants 10 the kings of Syria. 

4. The next exploit of their prince must have been very ac- 
ceptable to the antipathies of the Jews ; for he invaded Sama- 
ria, took Shechem, the chief seat of the Samaritans, and des- 
troyed their temple on Mount Gerizim, 

5. The next year (B. C. 129), Hyrcanus attacked the Idu- 
means (Edomites), who, during the Captivity, had established 
themselves in the southern part of Judaea, having Hebron for 
their capital, and had since maintained themselves there. Ha- 
ving subdued them, Hyrcanus gave them the choice of adopt- 
ing the Jewish religion, or of quitting the country and seeking a 
settlement elsewhere. They accepted the first branch of the 
alternative, and afterwards gradually incorporated with the Jews 
so as not ultimately to be distinguished from them. 

6. In the course of the two following years, two several em- 
bassies were sent to Rome, and obtained decrees highly favour- 
able to Hyrcanus and to the Jewish nation, chiefly as securing 
them against the aggressions of their neighbours. By his alli- 
ances, his consolidation of the government, his conquests, and 
the wealth which they afforded, Hyrcanus succeeded in raising 
the natiori to a position of much greater dignity and power than 
it had occupied since the return from Babylon. After enjoying 
several years of peace and honour, he died B. C. 106. 

7. The principality was left by Hyrcanus to his wife ; but 
the government was seized by his eldest son Aristobulus; and 
as his mother refused to relinquish her claim, he sent her to 
prison, where he left her to die of hunger. He also imprisoned 
the three youngest of his brothers ; but shewed some affection 
for Antigonus, the next in age to himself, and employed him in 
public business. Aristobulus was the first who assumed the 
royal title and diadem. He extended his dominion by subdu- 
ing the Itureans, who, like the Edomites before, chose rather to 
accept the Jewish religion than to abandon their country. The 
short reign of Aristobulus was brought to its close through his 
remorse and horror at discovering that it was an unjust suspi- 
cion which caused him to put to death Antigonus, the brother 
whom he had trusted and loved. 

8. Immediately after his death, his three imprisoned brothers 
were liberated, and the eldest of them, Alexander Jannaeus was 
advanced to the throne. He had talents for war, which ena- 
bled him to enlarge his dominions, although in other respects, 
his reign was far from happy. He subdued the Philistines, 
who accepted the alternative of adopting the Jewish religion. 
Moab, Ammon, Gilead, and part of Arabia Petraea, also yielded 
to his arms. This reign was, however, much troubled by the 
Pharisees, a sect whose name occurs first in the time of Hyr- 
canus, but who must have arisen earlier, as they had then at- 


176 


ALEXANDER JANNJEUS. 


[b.c 105. 

tained to much power and importance. Their turoulent charac- 
ter and lofty pretensions induced Alexander to follow the exam- 
ple of Hyrcanus in attaching himself to the rival sect of the 
Sadducees. This, as well as the general disfavour with which 
he regarded the principles of the more powerful body, led them 
to detest his person and government ; and they lost no oppor- 
tunity of exasperating the mind of the people against him by 
vilifying his administration, and by all sorts of charges and in- 
sinuations against his conduct and character. His return with 
loss and disgrace from the siege of Amathus beyond Jordan, 
damaged his reputation with the people, and gave increased 
boldness to the Pharisees. At length thev openly assaulted 
him while engaged in the most sacred act of the ritual service. 



Petra. 


At the feast of the tabernacles, as he stood at the altar, per- 
forming the functions of his office, the Pharisees, and the mul- 
titude incited by them, cast at him the citrons which the Jews 
usually carried in their hands on that occasion. This was the 
commencement of a civil war, which lasted nine years, in 
which all parties suffered and in which above 50,000 persons 
perished. During this war, both parties committed the most 
shocking barbarities on each other. The concluding act of it 
was the taking of Bethome by Alexander. He then brought 
800 of the prisoners to Jerusalem, and caused them all to be 
crucified in one day, and their wives and children put to death 
before their eyes ; while he sat feasting with his women in 
view of the horrid spectacle. 


DEATH OF ALEXANDER. 


177 


b. c. 78.] 

9. Alexander spent three years more in reducing the fortres- 
es which had fallen into hostile hands during these troubles, and 
in extending his power beyond the Jordan ; where, it should be 
observed, the country was chiefly occupied by, or under the 
control of, tribes of Arabian origin, which had sattled in these 
parts ; and hence the whole country beyond Jordan, excepting 
the northernmost part, came ultimately to be considered as 
part of Arabia, and is so named by ancient geographers. 

10. Returning victorious to Jerusalem, Alexander abandoned 
himself to. luxury, drunkenness, and sloth, which brought on a 
quartan ague, under which he languished for three years, and 
then died (B. C. 82). . 

11. Before his death, Alexander delivered the government to 
his wife Alexandra, and appointed her the guardian of the 
young princes. Following the dying counsels of her late hus- 
band, she convened the leaders of the Pharisees, and committed 
to them the management of affairs. With this they were so 
wonderfully mollified, that they not only secured her own peace- 
ful succession, but bestowed a most magnificent funeral on their 
old enemy. Being now the dominant party, and in fact, greatly 
exceeding the other party in popularity and numbers, the queen 
soon became a mere tool in their hands. She was obliged to 
yield to their most unreasonable demands; and they used their 
power with no sparing or gentle hand. They raised a grievous 
persecution against the Sadducees, and, in general, used their 
authority in the most arbitrary manner, — especially against the 
former friends and adherents of Alexander Jannaeus. Many of 
the most valuable persons, finding that the queen was unable 
to protect them, abandoned Jerusalem, and withdrew to obscure 
towns. 


178 


CHAPTER IV. B. C. 78 to 54. 


ASMONEAN PRINCES. 

B. C. 

Q. Alexandra, with 
Hyrcanus II. as 
priest, ... 78 

Hyrcanus II., king, 69 
Aristobulns, . . 69 

Hyrcanus II., resto- 
red, . ... 63 


EGYPT. 

B. C, 

Ptolemy Auletes, 64 

ROMAN GOVERNORS. 

B. B. 

Gabinius, ... 58 
Crassus, ... 55 

SYRIA. 

B. C. 

Antiochus (XI.) A- 
siaticus, ... 69 

Dethroned by Pom- 
pey, and Syria 
made a Roman 
province, . . 65 


GENERAL HISTORY. 

B. C. 

Spartacus, ... 71 
Lucullus defeats Mi- 
tbridates and Ti- 
granes, ... 69 
The Catiline Con- 
spiracy, ... 63 
Cicero, . ... 63 

Catullus, . . . . 60 

1st Triumvirate : 
Pompey, J. Caesar, 
and Crassus, . . 60 
Cicero banished, . 58 
Sallust, . ... 57 


1. Alexandra had two sons. The elder, Hyrcanus, who 
was a man of quiet habits and indolent temper, was raised to 
the high priesthood. The other son, Aristobulus, was of a 
more ardent and impetuous temperament, and took no pains to 
conceal his dislike of his mother’s proceedings, and of the con- 
duct of the Pharisees. He, with the principal men of the par- 
ty, which had been paramount in the time of his father, ap- 
peared before the throne, and asked permission to quit the coun- 
try, or to reside in the frontier towns, out of the way of the 
Pharisees. The request was granted, excepting that they were 
not permitted to withdraw to those towns in which the queen 
kept her treasures. Aristobulus was afterwards entrusted with 
some force to relieve Damascus; but he only used the occasion 
as an opportunity of making himself agreeable to the soldiers, 
and returned without having done any thing of importance. 
After a peaceful reign of nine years, queen Alexandra fell sick, 
and died, after having in her last days, as one who had noth- 
ing more to do with government, refused to nominate her suc- 
cessor. 

2. The Pharisees, however, placed Hyrcanus II. on the throne. 
But he reigned only three months; for his brother Aristobulus, 
having possession of most of the fortresses of the kingdom, dur- 
ing the illness of his mother, advanced his own claims to the 
sovereignty. The people, who had grown weary of the Phari- 
sees, and knew that the imbecile Hyrcanus was entirely in 
their hands, supported this movement ; the soldiers also de- 
serted to the popular Aristobulus. Hyrcanus, with little re- 
luctance, then resigned the mitre and the crown, and with- 
drew into private life, which better suited his character and 
habits. 

3. In his retirement, Hyrcanus fell under the designing coun- 


b. c. 63.] 


HYRCANUS AND ARISTOBULUS. 


179 


sels of Antipater (originally Antipas), an Idumean, who had 
been much in the confidence of .Alexander Jannseus and his 
wife Alexandra : by them he had been appointed governor of 
Idumea, in which office he had amassed considerable wealth. 
By repeated solicitations, and by persuading him that his bro- 
ther sought his life, this person at length induced Hyrcanus to 
escape by night to Petra, the seat of the Arabian king Aretas, 
and claim his protection and assistance. Aretas espoused his 
cause, brought him back to Judaea with an army of 50,000 men ; 
and being joined by many Jews of the same party, he gave 
battle to Aristobulus, who was defeated, and obliged to retreat 
to the temple-mount, which had by this time become a strong 
fortress. The siege of this fortress was carried on with the 
animosity which was usual in civil wars. Heathen kings had 
almost invariably, during a siege, allowed the lambs for sacri- 
fice at the great festivals to be introduced into the temple ; hut 
this was refused by the party of Hyrcanus, at the passover, al- 
though Aristobulus gave, over the walls, money to pay for 
them. 

4. At this time, the Romans, in accordance with the national 
policy for establishing a universal empire, had a large army in 
Asia, under the command of the great Pompey, who was war- 
ring in Armenia against Tigranes and Mithridates, while some 
of his officers were employed in Syria. In this emergency, 
Aristobulus sent to Severus the Roman general, who had taken 
possession of Damascus, imploring his assistance against his 
brother, not forgetting to send a present of 400 talents with the 
application. Although Hyrcanus offered to buy his aid at the 
same price, the Roman preferred the cause of Aristobulus, as 
one whom it might be the most easy to assist, and the most 
easy to subdue : and, therefore, he commanded Aretas instantly 
to withdraw his forces from Judaea, under pain of a war with 
the Romans. The Arabian king obeyed at once ; but on his re- 
treat he was overtaken by Aristobulus, and was defeated in a 
bloody conflict, in which many of the friends of Hyrcanus per- 
ished. Being thus master of the country, Aristobulus anxious- 
ly endeavoured to procure from the Romans a recognition of his 
title. Accordingly, when Pompey soon after came to Damascus, 
and twelve kings and many ambassadors appeared before him, 
the ambassadors of Aristobulus were among the number, bear- 
ing, as a present, an exquisitely wrought vine of pure gold, 
valued at 500 talents. His suit was waived for the time, 
and although his present was accepted, not his own name but 
that of his father was inscribed upon it, as the donor. 

5. The next year, when both Hyrcanus and Aristobulus sent 
ambassadors to Pompey, inviting him to consider and decide 
their difference, he put them off to the year ensuing, when 
they again appeared before him, each furnished with a multi- 
tude of witnesses to prove his claim; while another body of 
Jews came and accused both of having changed the govern- 


180 


JUDJEA SUBJECTED TO THE ROMANS. [b. C 63 

ment, which had formerly been administered by high-priests, 
and not by kings. Hyrcanus urged his right as the elder born ; 
which right, Aristobulus contended, was neutralized by his in- 
competency. Pompey, however, still left the matter undecided, 
until he should be at leisure to come himself and settle it at 
Jerusalem. But the impetuous Aristobulus, perceiving that 
imbecility in a dependent prince was far from being objection- 
able to the Romans, and that the ultimate decision was likely 
to be against him, abruptly withdrew to make preparations 
for war. Enraged at this, Pompey, on his return from an ex- 
pedition against the Nabathaean Arabs, marched into Judaea, 
and summoned Aristobulus, who was in the strong fortress of 
Alexandrium, to appear before him. He obeyed ; and Pompey 
no sooner had him in his power, than he compelled him to 
sign an order for all the fortresses to be given up to the Ro- 
mans. He was then liberated; when, resenting this treat- 
ment, he fled to Jerusalem, determined to stand a siege. But 
when Pompey advanced, the gates were opened to his troops 
by the party of Hyrcanus; and Aristobulus and his party with- 
drew once more into the temple, determined to hold out to the 
last. Here they were closely besieged by Pompey, who found 
his proceedings greatly facilitated by the strictness with which 
the Jewish people observed their Sabbath. It was true, that 
since the Maccabsean wars, they would on that day stand on 
their own defence; yet they still considered it unlawful to take 
any steps to hinder the works or operations of the enemy. The 
Romans were, therefore, allowed, without the slightest moles- 
tation, to carry on during the Sabbath-days their preparations 
for the assaults of the ensuing weeks ; by which means they 
at length carried the temple by assault, after a siege of three 
months, on the very day which the Jews observed as a fast for 
the taking of the city and temple by Nebuchadnezzar. A 
dreadful carnage now ensued, during which the officiating 
priests continued, with the utmost composure, their solemn ser- 
vices at the altar, until they were themselves smitten down 
before it without resistance. 

6. Pompey had the curiosity to enter the temple itself, even 
to the most holy place, with some of his officers ; no one ven- 
turing to oppose the act. But curious observers have remarked, 
that he was ever after an unprosperous man ; and ihis is no 
doubt true, whether it was a consequence which resulted from 
this cause or not. In the sanctuary, Pompey noted with a cu- 
rious eye the objects presented to his view ; but he left un- 
touched all the sacred utensils, and even the treasures of the 
temple, which amounted to ten thousand talents of gold. The 
walls and fortifications of Jerusalem were then demolished by 
order of Pompey ; who also made no ceremony in reducing the 
recent “ allies ” of Rome to the condition of a tributary people. 
He indeed appointed Hyrcanus to be high-priest and prince of 
the country ; but he required him to pay tribute to the Romans, 


THE SANHEDRIM ABOLISHED. 


181 


b. c. 57.] 

and forbade him to assume the crown, or extend his territories 
beyond their ancient limits. The external conquests of the 
principality were added to Syria, which was erected into a Ro- 
man province, and left under the dominion of Scaurus as pre- 
fect, with two legions to preserve order. To this date all 
agree in preferring the subjection of Judaea to the Romans. 
When Pompey left Palestine, he took with him Aristobulus, 
with his two sons, Alexander and Antigonus, and two of his 
daughters, to grace his triumph at Rome. 

7. Alexander, the eldest son of Aristobulus, escaped from 
Pompey during the journey to Rome, and got back to his own 
country. He must, however, have kept quiet for a time, as we 
do not hear of him till the year B. C. 57, when he had found 
means to collect a considerable force, with which he seized and 
garrisoned several strong fortresses, and from them ravaged the 
whole country. Hyrcanus had no means to oppose him, and 
as Jerusalem would probably be the next point of attack, he 
wished to rebuild the walls of the city, but he was forbidden 
by the jealousy of the Romans. On his calling upon them for 
succour, however, the pro-consul, Gabinius, marched an army 
into Judaea, and was accompanied by the celebrated Mark An- 
thony, the commander of his cavalry. The Roman troops were 
joined by those of Hyrcanus, under Antipater ; and in the battle 
which followed, Alexander was completely routed. He sought 
refuge in the strong fortress of Alexandrium, whence, through 
the mediation of his mother, he concluded a peace with Gabi- 
nius, on condition of surrendering the fortresses held by him, 
which were then demolished. 

8. The general then employed himself in settling the country, 
after the manner of the Romans. He was probably, in many 
respects, guided by the advice of Antipater, who made it his 
policy to ingratiate himself with the Romans. The most im- 
portant measure was the change of the government to an aris- 
tocracy. Before this, the administration of affairs had been con- 
ducted by two sanhedrim, or councils, or courts of justice — the 
lesser consisting of twenty-three members, existed in every 
city, and all these local sanhedrims were subject to the jurisdic- 
tion of the Grand Sanhedrim of seventy-two members, which 
sat at Jerusalem. These were put down by Gabinius, who, in 
their place, established five separate and independent tribunals, 
— at Jerusalem, Jericho, Gadara, Amathus, and Sephoris— giving 
to each the power of administering summary justice upon the 
inhabitants of the several districts. This threw the whole 
power into the hands of the nobles, who presided in these 
courts, whereas by the former practice the power had ulti- 
mately centered in the prince. This, or anything that lowered 
the regal principle, was no doubt acceptable to the Jews in ge- 
neral ; for they were unwilling to have any king not of the house 
of David to reign over them, especially as they were now anx- 
iously expecting the appearance of the promised Messiah. 


182 


ANTIPATER. 


[b. C. 49. 

9. The next event of importance is the re-appearance of 
Aristobulus, who, with his younger son Antigonus, escaped from 
Rome, and returned to his own land, where he soon got to- 
gether a considerable number of adherents, and excited a revolt, 
which might have been dangerous, but for the interference of 
the Romans, who soon defeated his forces, and again made him 
and his son prisoners. But in sending them back to Rome, 
Gabinius made such a representation of the services of the mo- 
ther in suppressing Alexander’s insurrection, that the senate 
liberated the family, and only detained Aristobulus. 

10. Not long after this, Gabinius was succeeded in the go- 
vernment of Syria by the celebrated triumvir Crassus, whose 
insatiable avarice is well known to the students of Roman his- 
tory. He soon visited Jerusalem with a body of soldiers, and 
plundered the temple of all the treasures which Pompey had 
spared, to the value of two millions sterling. His terrible over- 
throw and death, the ensuing year, was deemed by the Jews a 
judgment upon him for this sacrilege. 


CHAPTER V. B. C. 54 to 37. 


THE JEWS. 


SYRIA. 


EGYPT. 


B. C. 

Hyrcanus II. 

Antigonus, ... 40 
Antigonus beheaded ; 
end of Asamonean 
Dynasty, ... 37 


Roman Governors : 
Bibulus, 

Q. Metellus Scipio, 
Sextus Caosar, 
Cassius, 

Ventidius, 


51 

50 

47 


Ptolemy Auletes, 
Cleopatra, . 


43' Julius Caesar, 


38 


51 


38 


II. Triumvirate — Oc- 
tavius— Mark Anto- 
ny — Lepidus, . 38 


GENERAL HISTORY. 

B. C. 

Syria invaded by the Parthians, 50 
Battle of Pharsalia, - - 49 

Cato kills himself at Utica, 47 
Caesar reforms the Roman Calen- 
dar 46 

Caesar slain in the Senate-house, 44 
Battle of Philippi, - - 43 

The Parthians make themselves 
masters of Syria and Asia Mi- 
nor, .... 40 

The Parthians defeated and ex- 
pelled by Ventidius, - - 39 1 


PERSONS. 

B. C. 


Cornelius Nepos, - - 50 

Varro, 49 

Diodorus Siculus, - - 44 

Trogus Pompeius, - • 41 

Caius Cassius ob., • - 42 

Marcus Brutus ob. • - 42 


1 . In the Roman civil war which broke out between Pom- 
pey and Julius Caesar, the latter, thinking to promote his own 
interests and to disturb those of his rival in Syria, liberated 
Aristobulus, and sent him home with two legions of soldiers to 


ANTIPATER. 


183 


B. c. 47.] 

reclaim the crown. But he was poisoned in the way by the 
adherents of Pompey ; by whom also his son, Alexander, who 
had begun to raise forces to assist his father, was seized, 
brought to Antioch, and after a mock trial, beheaded. Two 
years after, the surviving son, Antigonus, presented himself be- 
fore Caesar when he returned, through Judea, from his cam- 
paign in Egypt, and solicited to be restored to the principality 
of his father. He mentioned the claims of his family, its 
wrongs, and how much it had suffered in his cause. But Cse- 
sar was now under a new influence, and he therefore not only 
rejected the petition, but treated it as an impertinence. The 
new influence was that of Antipater, who swayed the real pow- 
er of the province in the name of Hyrcanus. He had employed 
that power and the near resources of a neighbour, so much to 
the advantage of the Romans in this campaign, he had devo- 
ted himself so sedulously to Csesar, and, withal, he had found 
occasion to display so much valour and conduct, that Caesar felt 
grateful to him, and held him in high estimation. 

2. Antipater failed not to employ, for the advancement of his 
own fortunes, the influence he had thus acquired. Caesar was 
induced to confirm to Hyrcanus the full and ancient powers of 
the high priesthood and the ethnarchate. This had the effect 
of indirectly restoring the real character of the government, 
which had been impaired by the measures of Gabinius, and of 
destroying the independent jurisdictions which he had esta- 
blished. To do this, and to do it without a direct decree against 
a popular measure, appears to have been the real object of the 
restoration. Hyrcanus personally derived no increase of power 
from it ; for at the same time Antipater himself, who had before 
been admitted to the dignity of Roman citizenship, was appoint- 
ed Roman procurator of Judaea, which vested in him all the 
substantial powers of the state. Caesar also granted permis- 
sion for rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem which Pompey had 
destroyed ; and at this and other times, such other signal mea- 
sures were, through Antipater, bestowed by Caesar upon the 
Jewish nation, that in his time the weight of the Roman yoke 
was scarcely felt. One of the first acts of the new procurator 
was to raise his two sons, Phasael and Herod, to stations of trust 
and distinction. Herod was made governor of Galilee, and 
Phasael governor of Jerusalem. The former exercised him- 
self in clearing his province of the bands of daring robbers by 
which it was infested. But his mode of action was so sove- 
reign and arbitrary as to excite the notice of the Sanhedrim, 
which summoned him to Jerusalem to give an account of his 
conduct. He came indeed, but he came clothed in purple, with 
a numerous retinue, and bearing a letter from the president of 
Syria, with express orders for his acquittal. This, with his 
haughty and imperious carriage, quite intimidated the assem- 
bly, until an address from one of their number kindled their re- 
sentment as well at his past as present conduct. Perceiving 


184? ANTIGONITS DEFEATED BY HEROD. [b.C.4*1. 

this, Hyrcanus, who was attached to him, adjourned the assem- 
bly, and, as advised by that prince, Herod fled from the city in 
the following night, and went to Sextus Caesar at Damascus, 
who bestowed upon him the government of Ccele-Syria. Burn- 
ing with resentment, Herod would have marched to Jerusalem 
to punish the Sanhedrim and depose Hyrcanus, had not his fa- 
ther and brother persuaded him to abandon the design. 

3. The greater struggles and confusions in the state of Rome 
were accompanied by smaller conflicts and troubles in Syria 
and Palestine ; but in all these, it was the lot of the family of 
Antipater to be always uppermost. After the assassination of 
Julius Caesar at Rome by Brutus, Cassius, and their confede- 
rates, and of his relative Sextus Caesar in Syria by Bassus, the 
flames of war broke forth anew. Cassius being, like others, 
obliged to withdraw before the paramount influence of Anthony 
and Octavius in Italy, passed over into Syria, and, seizing that 
province, made head there against the pro-consul Dolabella. 
Cassius was obliged to raise heavy contributions to maintain 
the large army he had collected. Judsea was assessed in 700 
talents; and Antipater commissioned Herod to* raise one half, 
and Malichus, one of the principal supporters of Hyrcanus, to 
collect the other. Herod won high favour with Cassius by the 
speedy payment of his portion ; but Malichus, being more dila- 
tory, would have been put to death, had not Hyrcanus redeem- 
ed him by paying 100 talents out of his own coffers. This af- 
fair seems to have quickened the bad feeling with which Mali- 
chus and other leading Jews regarded the power and authority 
which Antipater had acquired and was acquiring over the na- 
tion. They therefore plotted to destroy him and his whole fa- 
mily ; and soon after Antipater was poisoned with a glass of 
wine, which the high-priest’s brother was induced to give him 
at an entertainment in the palace. Herod avenged his father, 
by inducing Cassius to order Malichus to be slain at Tyre by 
the Roman soldiers. The party of which Malichus had been 
the head, countenanced by Hyrcanus himself, then made a ve- 
hement struggle to relieve themselves from the grasp of An- 
tipater’s sons. They failed, and the failure gave the more 
strength to Herod and Phasael. Herod upbraided Hyrcanus for 
the part he had taken in this affair; but he did not come to an 
open rupture with him, as he wished to bring into his own fa- 
mily the claims of the Asamonean house by a marriage with 
Mariamne, the high-priest’s accomplished and beautiful grand- 
daughter. 

4. The party adverse to Herod and Phasael, was, however, 
far from being extinct. It soon found another and more dange- 
rous head in the person of Antigonus, that younger son of Aris- 
tobulus, whom there has been more than one occasion to men- 
tion. He came to claim his father’s throne; and his claim 
was well supported. But when Antigonus arrived in Judsea 
With his army, he received from Herod a complete overthrow. 


B. C. 40.] HEROD APPOINTED KING. 185 

and was obliged, for the time, to abandon his enterprize. The 
next year, after the victory over Bratus at Philippi, Mark An- 
thony passed over into Asia, to secure that important country 
for the conquerors. It will be remembered that this celebrated 
man had formerly served in Palestine with Gabinius, and must 
have been acquainted with the affairs of the Jewish people, and 
with the persons of their leaders. A deputation, composed of 
a hundred influential Jews, came to him at Daphne, near Anti- 
och, with complaints against the usurping sons of Antipater. 
Anthony gave them a hearing, and then turning to Hyrcanus, 
who was present, asked whom he thought the most competent 
to govern the state under himself? To the surprise of many, he 
named the two brothers, influenced possibly by the projected 
marriage between Herod and his grand-daughter. On this, An- 
thony, who had received gifts from Herod, and who well re- 
membered the services of Antipater, raised Herod and Phasael 
to the rank of tetrarchs, and committed the affairs of Judaea to 
their administration. Not long after, however, when Anthony 
was at Tyre, another more numerous deputation came to him 
with the same complaints; but Anthony ordered the soldiers 
to disperse them, which was done without loss of life. 

5. Antigonus was not yet disheartened. The Parthians, for a 
brief period, became masters of Syria, and held possession of 
Sidon and Ptolemais. Antigonus engaged their assistance by 
the promise of a thousand talents and five hundred Jewish wo- 
men, .and advanced at the head of a powerful army against Je- 
rusalem ; and after many strong efforts, succeeded in recover- 
ing the kingdom. Herod escaped by flight; but Hyrcanus and 
Phasael were thrown into dungeons. Knowing that his death 
was determined, Phasael dashed out his brains against the pri- 
son walls. Antigonus dared not incur the odium of destroying 
his aged uncle; "but he barbarously cropped off his ears, and 
sent him far away to Seleucia in Babylonia, in the safe keeping 
of the Parthians. 

C. Herod made the best of his way to Rome, where he found 
his friend Anthony in the very zenith of his power ; and was 
by him introduced to the favourable notice of Octavius, his co- 
adjutor, by an account of the services which Antipater had ren- 
dered to Julius Caesar in the Egyptian campaign, and of the es- 
teem in which he was held by that emperor. All that Herod 
came prepared to solicit was, that Aristobulus, the brother of 
his espoused Mariamne, should have the throne of Judaea, pur- 
posing himself to govern under him, as he had governed under 
Hyrcanus. But Anthony would hear of nothing less than that 
he should be king himself, and, with the concurrence of Octa- 
vius and of the senate, he was solemnly inaugurated king of 
Judaea, in the Capitol of Rome. He had still, however, to gain 
possession of his kingdom, and this he found an arduous under- 
taking. The Romans were again masters of Syria; but such 
assistance as Herod could obtain from them did him more harm 


186 


END OF THE ASAMONEAN DYNASTY. [B. C. 37. 

than good ; and the war lingered on with various success for 
between two and three years, when finding that he had tolera- 
bly- well secured Galilee and Samaria, he led his forces against 
Jerusalem. He was induced to do this, probably, by the pro- 
mise of efficient aid from Anthony, who had now returned to 
the East. While engaged in the siege, Herod completed his 
marriage with Mariamne, whom he had espoused four years 
before, hoping by this step to reconcile the people to his go- 
vernment, He was joined before Jerusalem by Sosius, the 
president of Syria, whom Anthony had sent to his assistance 
with a powerful army, which raised the whole investing force 
to above 60,000 men. The city withstood a vigorous siege of 
above half a year, and was then taken by storm. Exasperated 
at the obstinate resistance they had encountered, the Roman 
soldiers pillaged the city, and massacred the inhabitants with- 
out mercy. Jerusalem would probably have been destroyed, 
had not Herod ransomed it with gold. Antigonus surrendered 
himself to Sosius, and shewing less of the hero than had been 
expected from him, was treated with contempt. He was sent 
in chains to Antioch, where he was ultimately, at the solicita- 
tion of Herod, put to death, with such contumely as had never 
before been shown by the Romans to a crowned head. 

7. Thus ended the Asamonean dynasty, after it had subsisted 
126 years. In its later struggles for existence, the most devot- 
ed and even obstinate attachment was evinced by the great 
mass of the Jewish people ; and it was because nothing would 
induce them to acknowledge one of another family as king 
while Antigonus lived, that Herod determined to procure his 
death. After that, the Jews sullenly and gradually submitted 
to what they could not avoid, Herod being upheld by Roman 
swords. 


187 


BOOK VIII. 

CHAPTER I. B. C. 37 to B. C. 4. 


THE JEWS. 

Herod the Great, ... 37 

Birth of John the Baptist announ- 
ced, 6 

Birth of Christ announced, . 5 

John the Baptist born, . 5 

EGYPT. 

Cleopatra, 

Egypt reduced to a Roman Pro- 
vince by Octavius, . . 31 


SYRIA. 


Roman Governors. 

B. C. 

Plancus, 

34 

Messala Corvinus, 

27 

Agrippa, 

22 

again, 

15 

Sentius Saturninus and 

Titus Vo- 

lumnius, 

13 


GENERAL HISTORY. 

B. C. 

Lepidus expelled from the Tri- 
umvirate, .... 36 

War between Octavius and An- 
thony, .... 33 

Battle of Actium, . . 31 

Octavius invades Egypt, and redu- 
ces it to a Roman Province, 30 
Octavius, Emperor, with the title 
of Augustus, ... 27 


PERSONS. 

B. C. 

Maecenas 

31 

Agrippa, .... 

29 

Horace, .... 

29 

Propertius, .... 

27 

Titus Livius, 

Tibullus, . . . . 

25 

21 

Ovid, 

20 

Vitruvius, ' . . . . 

15 

Dionysius of Halicarnassus, . 

5 


1. We now find upon the throne of Judsea the man who 
comes down to us as Herod “ the Great,” and who certainly 
manifested in no common degree the qualities to which great- 
ness has been usually ascribed. Understanding the epithet, in 
its conventional use, as not applied to moral goodness, but to 
certain regal qualities which men have been trained to admire, 
it must be admitted that Herod had as good claim to be called 
“ the Great” as most of those to whom that distinction has 
been given. There is no person who, singly, fills so large a 
place in the history of the Jews, or whose character has been 
brought so completely into view. His resolution and indomita- 
ble valour are evinced by his whole history ; he was liberal 
even to extravagance in his expenditures ; his views were large 
and penetrating, and his plans comprehensive ; he was magnifi- 
cent in his buildings and public works ; and, at the first view, 
he appears to us as one of those men who stand forth as the 
benefactors of mankind. 

2. But a closer inspection shews that all this fair appearance 
was false and hollow. Glory, honour, and the praise of men, 
were the motives of all his great acts, to attain which he aim- 


m 


CHARACTER OF HEROD. 


[B. C. 36. 

ed at objects far beyond the grasp of the dependent sovereign 
of so small a state. He was obliged, by his lavish expenditure, 
to lay the most heavy and oppressive burdens upon his people, 
and to invent any excuse for* cutting down the wealthy and the 
noble, and confiscating their estates. He was a slave to the 
most furious passions : his natural disposition was severe and 
unrelenting, and no regard for human suffering formed an ob- 
stacle to the least of his designs. His inexorable cruelties 
against those whom he suspected or feared, excited against him 
the hatred of all his subjects, — and then, his only care was how 
to make that hatred a source of gain, by new exactions and 
confiscations. Although a Jew by profession, he was in heart 
a heathen, and it displeased him that the severe principles of 
that religion which made more account of righteousness than 
of glory, precluded his subjects from honouring him as the great 
ones of the heathen were honoured, — by statues, temples, 
games, and offerings. In a word, the good qualities of Herod, 
real or seeming, were kept bright for holiday show to the Ro- 
mans; but the bad ones were displayed without reserve to his 
own people, his own kindred, and, above all, to those who stood 
in his way, or whom he counted his enemies. 

3. The leading acts of his reign class themselves so naturally 
under the heads of jealousy and pride, that it may be well thus 
to arrange them. Of his jealousy, the prime objects were the 
members and the adherents of the Asamonean house. He be- 
gan his reign by a most dreadful persecution of the adherents 
of the fallen Antigonus ; and here policy went along with his 
hatred, for with his exhausted treasury and lavish expenses, he 
found it exceedingly convenient to put the more affluent of them 
to death, and confiscate their estates. The blood which he 
shed, and the inexorable cruelty which he manifested, in the 
beginning of his reign, made his person and government hate- 
ful to the Jews ; and hatred rose to abhorrence when the ob- 
jects of the public love, the last remains of a noble race, be- 
came the victims of his murderous jealousy. 

4. The old Hyrcanus, it will be remembered, had been exiled 
to Babylonia, where he was treated with great consideration, 
not only by the large body of influential Jews in that quarter, 
but by the Parthian government. Jealous of the place which 
the harmless old man occupied in the affection and respect of 
the Jewish people, Herod decoyed him to Jerusalem, and, af- 
ter treating him for a time with apparent attention and defer- 
ence, caused him, at a convenient season, to be slain (B. C. 31). 
The enormity of this deed is unutterable, when we reflect what 
Hyrcanus had been to Herod and Antipater. 

5. The next object of Herod’s jealousy was a boy, the grand- 
son of Hyrcanus, and brother of Mariamne. He was now the 
lineal representative of the Asamonean house, and, as such, was 
hateful to Herod ; but his life and welfare seemed sufficiently 
guarded by his relationship to Mariamne. The boy grew up 


B. C. 29.] DEATH OF MARIAMNE. 189 

into a youth of wonderful beauty ; and the hearts of the Jews 
were fixed upon him as the last of the glorious Maccabees. 
His of right was the high-priesthood, which Herod had bestow- 
ed upon an obscure priest of the name of Ananel ; but perceiv- 
ing, at length, that it was no longer safe to withhold the ponti- 
ficate from him, the king removed Ananel, and gave his place 
to Aristobulus, then but seventeen years of age. When he first 
appeared in the gorgeous robes ol his office, at the Feast of 
Tabernacles, the assembled people could not restrain a burst of 
admiration and delight : and that testimony of affection sealed 
the doom of Aristobulus. Very soon after, he was drowned, by 
alleged “ accident,” while bathing at Jericho ; but the whole 
nation knew that the act was Herod’s, and saw through the 
show of mourning and parade of grief displayed on the occa- 
sion. 

6. Of his wife, Mariamne, who has been so often named, He- 
rod was doatingly fond ; and this he shewed in his own pecu- 
liar manner, by more than once leaving private orders, when he 
had occasion to leave Judaea, that she should be put to death if 
he failed to return. This happened to transpire, and gave oc- 
casion to jealousy and suspicion on the part of Herod, and to 
anger and indignation on the part of the high-spirited and vir- 
tuous princess. The result was, as usual, death. In the rage 
of his jealousy and anger, he poured out that life which was the 
dearest to him, and which his groans and tears could not after- 
wards restore. The death of her mother, Alexandra, followed 
soon after. The three sons of Mariamne by Herod himself, 
also excited his jealousy and dislike by resting upon their Asa- 
monean descent through her, and malting that their ground of 
claim to the favour of the people, were at length consigned to 
the same doom, and were, by their father’s order, strangled in 
the prison-house (B. C. 7). In short, such was his jealous 
temper, that he spared neither his own family, his friends, nor 
the noblest, wealthiest, or most powerful of his subjects. It is 
not wonderful that such conduct procured him the intense ha- 
tred of the Jews, and that various plots were laid for his de- 
struction. In such plots a very active part was taken by the 
Pharisees ; but they were all abortive, and only served to in- 
crease the distance between the tyrant and his people, and to 
render the former so suspicious, that the innocent were often 
cruelly tortured, lest the guilty should escape. 

7. The knowledge of how deeply he was disliked by the peo- 
ple, also made him more and more careless of public opinion ; 
and when he supposed that all his enemies were put down, and 
his power well established, he evinced a marked neglect of the 
Jewish religion and laws, and as marked a preference of Ro- 
man customs and practices. There was, perhaps, policy in 
this ; for he owed everything to the Romans, and had no trust 
but in their favour. Not being a Levite, or even, by birth, a 
Jew, he did not venture to seize the priesthood. His own po- 


190 HEROD REBUILDS THE TEMPLE. [b. C. 17 . 

licy and that of his successors, was, therefore, to degrade that 
sacred office, and to render it entirely dependent on his will. 
From the beginning of his reign to the destruction of the tem- 
ple, the hereditary principle of succession to the priesthood was 
utterly neglected ; and the high-priests were set up and remov- 
ed at pleasure. He destroyed the authority of the Grand San- 
hedrim, before which he had formerly been summoned ; and 
he is said to have burned the public genealogies, that no evi- 
dence might exist against his claim to be considered an Israel- 
ite. In all parts of his kingdom, except Judaea, Herod built 
temples in the Grecian style of art, set up statues for idolatrous 
worship, and even dedicated a magnificent theatre and amphi- 
theatre to the celebration of games in honour of Augustus, which 
it is known, implied the deification of the person in whose hon- 
our the games were celebrated. His ordinary habits were 
framed after the manners and customs of the Romans ; and 
along with the usages, his influence and example failed not to 
impart the luxuries and vices of that licentious people. 

8. To Herod’s pride may be ascribed his buildings and pub- 
lic works. His design to rebuild the temple in a style and 
scale of superior grandeur, may certainly be attributed to his 
wish for the glory of being thought another Solomon, rather 
than to his piety or zeal. He was likewise sensible of the fact, 
that there was scarcely any step he could take by which he 
could so well please and soothe the people he had done so 
much to exasperate. Accordingly, having obtained the consent 
of the people, he spent two years in bringing together all the 
materials for the work, after which the old fabric was pulled 
down, and the new one begun, in the twentieth year of his 
reign. For nine or ten years, no less than 18,000 workmen 
were employed upon. The sanctuary, or actual temple 
itself, was completed in a year and a half; and the rest of the 
pile, with its courts, porticoes, offices, and outer buildings, in 
eight years more, so as to be fit for the usual services of reli- 
gion ; but the whole was not completed till long after the death 
of Herod. This temple is that which Christ and his apostles 
so often visited, and which is minutely described by Josephus. 
It seems in many respects to have been a much more magnifi- 
cent pile than the great temple built by Solomon, although it 
may not have exceeded that celebrated structure in its wealth 
of gold. It was built with hard white stones of vast size ; and, 
rising in all its grandeur from the summit of an eminence, it 
formed the most conspicuous object in a general view of the 
city, and excited the admiration of all beholders. The exteri- 
or was covered profusely with solid plates and pinnacles of gold ; 
and when the rays of the sun were reflected from it, it shone 
like a meteor, which the eye could not rest upon. The noble 
porticoes which surrounded the temple courts, also claimed no 
small share of admiring wonder. Incalculable wealth was ex- 
pended on. them ; and the refined taste was gratified by grace 


b. c. 17.] herod’s kingdom enlarged. 191 

of form and proportion, by vast extent, by costliness of materi- 
als, and by every variety of beauty and embellishment which 
art or imagination could devise. 

9. Herod also built a magnificent palace for himself, which 
subsequently became the residence of the Roman procurators 
at Jerusalem. This, next to the temple, was considered the 
finest building in Jerusalem. Many other great works were 
undertaken by him, not only in his own dominions but in for- 
eign cities, with the view of spreading the fame of his magnifi- 
cence in the Roman empire. In many other cities, the travel- 
ler might hear in those days, as he went from place to place, 
that the city walls, the porticoes, the gymnasiums, the thea- 
tre, the temple, the bath, the bazaar, the aqueduct, were built 
by a munificent foreigner, Herod, king of Judaea; or else that 
he had planted the grove, had founded the public games, or had 
made rich gifts to the city. Although this lavish expenditure 
upon foreigners was a grievance to the people over whom he 
ruled, it must be admitted that his own dominion was by no 
means overlooked. Many new cities were built by him, and 
old ones restored ; bridges, roads, baths, aqueducts, were form- 
ed wherever needed, which gave a new aspect to the country 
under his reign. At Caesarea, which was built by him, he 
framed by art the safest and most convenient port on all the 
coast. Among the cities rebuilt by him on an enlarged and 
beautiful plan, was Samaria, to which he gave the name of 
Sebaste, in honour of Augustus. All these were great, and 
in themselves useful works ; yet we may gather from the 
Jewish writings, that the people were but little grateful for 
them, while they groaned under the exactions by which their 
cost was defrayed. 

10. We have seen that Mark Anthony was the original pa- 
tron of Herod, and that to him chiefly he owed his kingdom. 
In the conflict that eventually arose between Anthony and Oc- 
tavius, Herod adhered to the cause of the former ; but at length, 
not feeling it his interest to connect his fortunes with those of 
a man whose infatuations were leading to his inevitable ruin, 
he made a timely and by no means ungraceful transfer of his al- 
legiance to Octavius. To that person the attentions and servi- 
ces of Herod were very acceptable ; and when he became the 
sole master of the Roman world, under the name of Augustus, 
he continued to manifest towards him the highest degree of 
favour and personal esteem. By successive additions his king- 
dom was more extensive than that of any king since Solomon, 
and embraced not only the whole country from Dan to Beershe- 
ba, but as extensive domains beyond the Jordan as had at al- 
most any time belonged to the crown of Israel. Besides this 
he was the emperor’s procurator in Syria, and the governor of 
that important country undertook nothing without his concur- 
rence. We may form some notion of the regard which the em- 
peror had for Herod by the pains which he took from time to 


192 


HEROD THE GREAT. 


j> C. S. 

time to settle the troubles that were constantly arising in his 
family, and which were as constantly referred to his judgment 
and decision. The most important incidents, as arising chiefly 
from the jealousy of Herod’s character, have been mentioned. 
The last of them which was named, being the execution of his 
two high-spirited and accomplished sons by Mariamne, took 
place towards the latter end of his long reign. B. C. 6. 

11. The year after was signalized by the birth of John the 
Baptist, — the harbinger of the promised Messiah. 


CHAPTER II. B. C. 5 to A. D. 25. 


PALESTINE. 

B. C* 

Herod the Great, . * - 37 

A. D. 

Archelaus,ethnarch of Judea, &c., 1 
Herod Antipas, tetrarch of Gali- 
lee and Perea, - - - 1 

Herod Philip, tetrarch of Tra- 
chonitis, &c., - - - I 

ROMAN PROCURATORS OP JUDJEA. 


Coponius, 


A. D. 
- 6 

Marcus Ambivius, - 


- 9 

Annius Rufus, - 
Valerius Gratus, 


- 13 


- 14 

Pontius Pilate, - 


- 25 

ROME. 


n 

Augustus, 


B. c. 
- 27 

Tiberius, 

. 

A. D. 

- 14 


PERSONS. 

fi <3 

Phaedrus, 4 

Cornelius Celsus, - - - 17 

Valerius Maximus, - - - 23 

Germanicus, S 

Arminius, - - . - 10 

EVENTS. 

A. D. 

Jesus Christ born, ... 1 

Massacre of the innocents at 
Bethlehem, 1 

Christ in the Temple, - - 9 

Jews expelled from Italy, 20 

Annas removed from the high- 
riesthood, which he had 
eld fifteen years, - - 23 


1. The good understanding between Herod and the emperor, 
was at length interrupted, in consequence of Herod marching 
some troops into Arabia Petraea, against king Phadus, with 
whom he had quarrelled. This was so misrepresented to Au- 
gustus, that he was greatly incensed against Herod, and wrote 
to him saying he should be no longer treated as a friend but as 
a subject. Accordingly, a commissioner named Cyrenius, was 
sent into Judaea to register the taxable population, with a view 
to the imposition of that capitation or poll-tax, usually paid by 
the inhabitants of the subject provinces, but from which Herod’s 
dominion had been exempt. The registration was completed; 
but the tax itself was not imposed, as proper explanations re- 
stored the good understanding between Herod and Augustus. 


A. D. 1.] BIRTH OF CHRIST. i$3 

2. As, under the decree of registration, the people were to be 
enrolled in their paternal towns, many persons who had settled 
in other places, had now to journey to the seat of the families 
to which they belonged. Those of the house and lineage of 
David repaired to Bethlehem. Among them was a carpenter 
named Joseph, with his wife Mary, from Nazareth in Galilee. 
As the caravanserai was too crowded by previous comers, to 
afford them any accommodation, they lodged in the stable be- 
longing to it. Here Mary gave birth to a son, and cradled him 
in the manger. That son was Jesus Christ, the Messiah, so 
long foretold, whose day so many kings and prophets had de- 
sired to see. Nor was that illustrious birth without such hea- 
venly celebration as became its importance. Hosts of rejoicing 
angels sang of “ peace on earth, and good will to man and 
by them the shepherds, who lay abroad at night in the plain, 
watching their flocks, were directed to the birth-place of the 
Redeemer. 

3. Not long after, Jerusalem was astonished by the arrival of 
three sages from the distant east, inquiring for the new-born 
king, saying that they had seen “his star,” and had come to 
offer him their gifts and homage. They found him in the man- 
ger at Bethlehem: and then repaired to their own country with- 
out returning to Jerusalem, as Herod had desired. The jealousy 
of that tyrant had been awakened by their inquiry for the 
“ King of the Jews and as their neglect to return prevented 
him from distinguishing the object of their homage, he had the 
inconceivable barbarity to order that all the children in Bethle- 
hem under two years of age should be put to death, trusting 
that the intended victim would fall in the general slaughter ; 
but Joseph had previously been warned in a dream to take his 
wife and the infant to the land of Egypt, whence they did not 
return till after the death of Herod. 

4. That event was not long delayed. In the sixty-ninth year of 
his age, Herod fell ill of the disease which occasioned hi3 
death. That disease was in his bowels, and not only put him 
to the most cruel tortures, but rendered him altogether loath- 
some to himself and others. The natural ferocity of his tem- 
per could not be tamed by such experience. Knowing that the 
nation would little regret his death, he ordered the persons of 
chief note to be confined in a tower, and all of them to be slain 
when his own death took place, that there might be cause for 
weeping in Jerusalem. This savage order was not executed. 
After a reign of thirty-seven years, Herod died in the seventieth 
year of his age. 

5. By his will, which was, of course, left subject to the ap- 
proval of the emperor, Herod divided his dominions among his 
three sons, Archelaus, Herod Antipas, and Herod Philip. To 
Archelaus he bequeathed what was regarded as properly the 
kingdom, namely, Judaea, Samaria, and Idumaea ; to Antipas 
was left the tetrarchy of Galilee and Perea; and Philip was 


194 « JUDiEA REDUCED TO A ROMAN PROVINCE, [a. D. 6 . 

appointed tetrarch of the" territory formed by the districts of 
Trachonitis, Gaulonitis, Batanea, and Paneas. The relative 
value of the territories may be estimated by the revenue derived 
from them. Archelaus’s territory yielded six hundred talents a 
year, that of Antipas two hundred, that of Philip one hundred. 
This distribution was confirmed by Augustus, excepting that he 
recognized Archelaus as ethnarch only, reserving the title of 
king, as the future reward of his good conduct in the govern- 
ment. His subjects, however, regarded him as their king, and 
entertained favourable anticipations of his reign. But he soon 
showed himself as great a tyrant as his father, without the re- 
deeming qualities that had been some time visible in Herod. 
At the very beginning of his reign, his refusal of a popular de- 
mand, raised a commotion in the temple, to quell which he let 
loose the soldiers upon the people, whereby not fewer than 
three thousand persons were destroyed. This and other acts 
revived the general unpopularity of the rule of the Herodian 
family; and, therefore, when the several members of that fami- 
ly, interested in the will of Herod, proceeded to Rome to pro- 
mote their claims, a deputation of Jews also went to petition 
that they might be no longer harassed by a show of indepen- 
dence, but should be allowed to live according to their own 
laws under a Roman governor. Their suit was, however, re- 
fused, and the will of Herod was confirmed. 

6. On his return, Archelaus conducted himself with great 
harshnness towards his refractory subjects. This produced new 
disorders, and the ensuing years were disturbed by insurrections 
against the Romans, by pretenders to the crown, and by power- 
ful bands of brigands, who kept the kingdom in continual 
alarm, and checked communication between one part of the 
country and another. At length the maladministration of Ar- 
chelaus, and his unfitness to govern, became so evident, that 
the complaints of his subjects were no longer treated with neg- 
lect at Rome. In the tenth year of his reign he was deposed, 
and banished to Vienne in Gaul. 

7. At the same time Judaea was reduced to the form of a Ro- 
man province, annexed to Syria, and governed by Roman pro- 
curators. This change threw into the rough hands of stran- 
gers those powers which the kings had previously exercised. 
Thus, tribute was paid directly to the Romans ; the power of 
life and death was taken away ; and justice was administered 
in the name and by the laws of Rome. The procurators were 
appointed directly by the emperors, and the place of their resi- 
dence was Caesarea, which hence became the reputed capital of 
the province. A magnificent palace which Herod had built 
there for himself, became the residence of the procurators. At 
the great festivals, the procurators usually visited Jerusalem, 
attended by some cohorts (or regiments) of soldiers, with the 
view of repressing any disturbance which might arise in so vast 
a concourse of discontented people. Six cohorts were constantly 


195 


A D. 6 25,] DISSATISFACTION OF THE JEWS. 

kept in Judaea, of which five were generally at Caesarea, and 
one always at Jerusalem. A part of the Jerusalem cohort was 
quartered in the tower of Antonia, so as to command the temple 
and the praetorium or palace of the governor. 

S. The duty of the procurator was to maintain good order in 
his province, to collect the imperial revenues, and to administer 
justice. Some of those who came to Judaea, held independent 
jurisdiction, while others were dependent on the president or 
general governor of Syria, whose seat was at Antioch. The 
tribute paid to the Romans was peculiarly galling to the Jews, 
many of whom, arguing on abstract tenets, without reference 
to its being compulsory, held that it was “ unlawful” for the 
chosen people of God to pay tribute to the heathen. The per- 
sons holding this doctrine, or making it a cover for their rest- 
lessness, were called “ zealots and under that name they are 
distinguished in the few sad pages that remain of the Jewish 
history. Such people were not likely to admit of any middle 
course, nor indeed was there any open to them. They raised 
numerous insurrections against the Roman government, or uni- 
ted in formidable bodies of brigands; and considering all those 
Jews who were willing to rest quiet under the Romans, as un- 
worthy and degenerate sons of Israel, they counted them as 
enemies, and treated them as such. The effect of this was in- 
creasing disorder, insecurity, and rapine. 

9. Even the more quietly disposed who, from seeing no hope 
of deliverance, were disposed to submit to the Roman yoke, 
detested the tribute in their hearts : and hence those Jews who 
assisted in the collection, and were called “ publicans,” were 
disliked beyond all men, being regarded as betrayers of their 
country’s liberties, and extortioner’s in behalf of the Romans. 
This feeling naturally threw the office of collector or publican 
into the hands of men of low character, whose conduct gene- 
rally justified the dislike with which they were regarded. The 
lofty notions entertained by the Jews of their national privileges 
as the peculiar people of Jehovah, rather than any enlarged 
and patriotic views of public liberty, fostered those feelings of 
hatred to the Roman government. Besides, the Romans, being 
idolaters, were looked upon by the Jews with disgust, as pollu- 
ted and abominable men, with whom thdy could not sit at the 
same table or mix in any social intercourse. This marked and 
avowed abhorrence of the Jews to the persons of the Romans, 
was by no means calculated to produce in that overbearing 
people a kind feeling towards their tributaries. 

10. But for their national prejudices the Jews would have had 
no good ground for complaint. They were allowed the free ex- 
ercise of their own religious rites ; they worshipped in their 
temple and synagogues without restraint ; they followed their 
own customs, and were still in a great degree governed by 
their own laws. 


196 


CHAPTER III. A. D. 25 to 36. 


PALESTINE. 

A. D. 

Galilee — Herod Antipas, 

1 

Trachonitis — Herod Philip, 

1 

Judaea — Pontius Pilate, 

25 

Marcellus, - 

35 

Marullus, .... 

36 

HOME. 

Tiberius, .... 

14 


EVENTS. 

A. D. 

John the Baptist begins his min- 
istry, 28 

Jews baptized by John, - 29 

John imprisoned by Anlipas, 30 

Jesus begins his ministry, - 30 

John the Baptist beheaded, 32 

Jesus crucified, - - - 33 

Stephen martyred, - - 34 

Conversion of Saul, - - 36 


1. The important changes in Judaea consequent upon its be- 
coming a Roman province, did not extend to the tetrarchies of 
Herod Antipas and Philip, who governed their territories with- 
out the direct intervention of the Romans. The former of these 
personages is repeatedly mentioned in the gospels by the name 
of Herod. He sedulously cultivated the favour of the emperoi 
Tiberius, who succeeded Augustus in A. D. 14, and gave his 



Lake and Town of Tiberias. 


name to the city which he built on the western border of the 
lake of Gennesareth, from which also the lake itself soon ac- 
quired the name of Tiberias. 

2. The Roman procurators of Judaea were often changed, 
and, with rare exceptions, every succeeding one was worse, in 


JESUS CHRIST. 


197 


a. D. 28.] 

character and conduct, than his predecessors. The first of them 
of whom there is any thing remarkable to record is Pontius Pi- 
late, whose name the gospels have made familiar to every 
reader. He came into the province in A. D. 25, and continued 
in it ten years. His conduct from the first excited the dissatis- 
faction of the people. He was an impetuous, greedy, sanguin- 
ary, and obstinate tyrant, who sold justice, plundered the peo- 
ple, and slew the innocent. Although the abhorrence in which 
idolatrous images were held by the Jews, was perfectly well 
known to all the Romans, he persisted in bringing into Jerusa- 
lem the images of Caesar, which were on the military ensigns ; 
and by this and other acts of insult and oppression, he raised 
frequent tumults even among those of the Jewish people who 
were the most inclined to submit to the Roman government. 

3. But the government of Pilate is made chiefly memorable 
by the public appearance, ministry, and death of Jesus Chiust. 
His birth has already been mentioned. Of his history, while 
he remained in private life, that is, until he attained the age of 
thirty years, little further is known than that he remained with 
his parents at Nazareth in Galilee, to which town they had re- 
turned as soon as the death of Herod rendered it safe for them 
to leave Egypt. His actual appearance as the expected Mes- 
siah, was harbingered by John the Baptist, who had lived in 
the solitudes of the wilderness, clad in hairy raiment, and sub- 
sisting on locusts and wild honey, and came thence to the river 
Jordan, where, by his preaching of repentance and remission of 
sins, with his baptism of those who came to him, he attracted 
great attention. But the interest of his countrymen was in- 
creased when he announced that he came but as the forerunner 
of One whose sandal-thong he was not himself worthy to un- 
loose. This accorded with the expectations then prevalent 
among the Jewish people, that the time for the coming of the 
long-desired Messiah, the Deliverer, was very near. The ex- 
pectation was founded on a calculation of the time mentioned 
by Daniel the prophet, # which calculation still remains as one 
of the strongest evidences that Jesus of Nazareth was the very 
Christ of whom Moses and the prophets wrote. The Jews 
were, however, utterly mistaken in their conception of the cha- 
racter and offices of the expected Messiah. They thought he 
was to appear as a great and glorious king, claiming his place 
upon the throne of David, and going forth conquering and to 
conquer, until Israel not only broke the yoke that fretted her 
neck, but until she became the head of the nations, and the 
proudest of her enemies licked the dust beneath her feet. This 
expectation was one of the circumstances which made the na- 
tion so impatient of the Roman yoke. 

4. With such expectations, the Jews as a body, and especially 

* “Seventy weeks,” meaning weeks of years, or seventy multiplied by 
seven — being 490 years. 


198 


CHRIST CRUCIFIED. 


[a. d. 33 . 

the proud and self-confident Pharisees, were little prepared to 
recognise the Messiah in that lowly man, whom soon after the 
Bapilst pointed out as “ the Lamb of God that taketh away the 
sins of the world.” There seems to have been a thick mist over 
the Jewish mind, which rendered the nation incapable of perceiv- 
ing or understanding that his mission was indescribably more glo- 
rious than had entered into their worldly minds : that he came 
to ransom mankind from their lost condition ; to bring into the 
fold of God other sheep, which had been straying long on moun- 
tains and in wildernesses of ignorance and ungodliness ; to bring 
into the world a hope full of immortality, and to furnish man 
with higher and purer motives, feelings, and principles of ac- 
tion, than had yet been known on the earth. This the Jews 
would not and could not understand, as they liked far better to 
see in the Messiah a great king and warrior, clad with the visi- 
ble glory of his father David. Although, therefore, they con- 
fessed that no man ever spoke as he spoke, that no man ever 
did such marvellous things as he did ; although he raised the 
dead, healed all manner of diseases, gave sight to the blind and 
hearing to deaf, and fed seven thousand with the bread of ten 
people, yet they refused to receive him as ‘‘the Christ of God.” 
Nay, more, the claims which he advanced were, as coming 
from him, so opposed to rooted opinions, by which the national 

S ride was flattered ; his announcement of the termination of the 
losaical system was so abhorrent to the same feeling ; his re- 
proofs of the reigning evils were so unsparing, that he was not 
only rejected but hated by the teachers and leaders of the peo- 

f )le. They spared no pains to accomplish his death ; and at 
ength, three years after the commencement of his ministry, at 
the Passover of the year A. D. 33, they brought him to the 
scourge, the thorny crown, the transfixing nails, and the cross of 
a Roman execution. 

5. In that act of blood the doom of the Jewish nation was 
sealed. The rent veil of the temple indicated the end of the 
Mosaic dispensation, and the completion of the purposes for 
which the descendants of Abraham had hitherto been preserved 
as a nation. The light of Israel went out in that darkness which 
overspread the land when the dying Saviour cried, “ It is 

FINISHED !” 

But the grave could not retain him. On the third day he 
rose, and after meeting several times with his followers, dis- 
coursing with them and partaking of their food, on the fortieth 
day he ascended, visibly, up into the heavens from which he 
came. Soon after, at the feast of Pentecost, he sent down upon 
his chosen followers that enlightenment of the Holy Spirit, 
which was needful to qualify them for making known his doc- 
trines to all the world. 

6. Pilate being the person in whom rested the power of life 
and death, necessarily took part in the death of Christ. To en- 
sure the conviction of Jesus, the Jews charged him with a po- 


DEATH OF rONTIUS FILATE. 


199 


a. d. 35.] 

litical crime, that of sedition. Had the power been with them, 
they would have stoned him. Pilate, however, saw very plainly 
that there was no real ground of charge against him, and was 
reluctant to condemn him. But, on the other hand, he was at 
that time anxious to gratify the Jewish people, and was fearful 
of the impressions which the jealous and suspicious Tiberius 
might receive from their accounts of the transaction. He there- 
fore yielded to their clamour ; but in doing so, vainly sought to 
clear his own hands from the stain of innocent blood, and to 
cast it upon their heads. They received it gladly, shouting, 
“ His blood be on us, and on our children !” — and awfully were 
their words fulfilled. Christ himself, not long before his death, 
predicted that the existing generation should not pass away be- 
fore their city and temple should be destroyed with fearful suf- 
ferings of the people. 

7. In the year that Christ was crucified, the tetrarch Philip 
died ; and as he had no sons, his territories were annexed to the 
Roman province of Syria. As to the surviving tetrarch, Herod 
Antipas, he put John the Baptist in prison, on account of his 
public reprobation of a very unseemly act of which he had been 
guilty. He took Herodias, the wife of his living brother, and 
married her himself, putting away his former legitimate wife, 
a daughter of the king of Arabia-Petrsea. Herod had no wish 
or intention to put John to death, but was reluctantly induced 
to do so in compliance with a foolish vow which the dancing of 
the daughter of Herodias extracted from him. He afterwards 
happened to be at Jerusalem when Christ was brought before 
Pilate, and that person, hearing that the accused belonged to 
Galilee, sent him to the tetrarch of that district. Herod was 
glad to see him, having heard much of his preaching and mira- 
cles; but, finding that Jesus was not disposed to gratify his cu- 
riosity, he treated him with insult, and sent him back to Pilate. 
This civility between the governor and the tetrarch, at the ex- 
pense of Jesus, paved the way for making up a difference which 
had existed between them. 

8. Pilate retained his government some years longer, and 
continued his oppressions and exactions, among which may be 
reckoned his attempt to drain the treasury of the temple, under 
cover of making it chargeable for the expenses of carrying an 
aqueduct into Jerusalem. At length, a gross outrage upon the 
Samaritans, in which a number of innocent people were put to 
the sword, occasioned such complaints to Yitellius, the governor 
of Syria, that he ordered Pilate home to give an account of his 
conduct to the emperor. Tiberius was dead before he arrived, 
and his successor Caligula, banished him to Vienne in Gaul, 
where he is said to have perished miserably by his own hand. 

9. After having sent Pilate home, Vitellius himself went to 
Jerusalem (although he had been there lately) to allay the fer- 
ment which had arisen among the Jews. He was accompanied 
by Herod, and acted with temper and discretion. He removed 


200 HEROD AGRIPPA. [a. D. 38 . 

the high-priest, appointed Marceilus procurator for the interim, 
and took the oaths of allegiance to the new emperor. 

10. Marceilus was soon superseded as procurator by Marullus, 
who was sent out by Caligula. 


CHAPTER IV. A. D. 36 to 64. 


PALESTINE. 


GENERAL HISTORY. 


A. D. 


A. Z>. 


Herod Antipas in Gaiilee, &c., 1 

King Herod Agrippa in Tracho- 


nitis, &c., . . . . 3S 

Herod Agrippa, king of Judaea, 41 

ROMAN PROCURATORS. 

A. D. 

Cuspius Phadius, . . .44 

Tiberius Alexander, . . 46 

Ventidius Cumanus, . . 47 

Felix, 52 

Porcius Festus, . . • .60 

Albinus, 63 

ROME. 

A. D. 

Caligula, . ... 37 

Claudius, 41 

Nero, 54 


Jewish Embassy to Caligula, . 40 
Claudius’s Expedition into 
! Briiain, • . . .43 

, Martyrdom of James the. Elder, 44 
Council of Apostles at Jerusalem, 49 
j Paul imprisoned at Jerusalem, 59 
Paul’s lirst visit to Rome, . 61 
Martyrdom of James the Less, 62 
Paul liberated, . . . . 63 

PERSONS. 

A. D. 

Columella, . . . .32 

Philo Judaeus, . . . .39 

Persius, 37 

Seneca, 52 

Petronius Arbiter, . . .61 
Lucan, . .62 

Quintus Curtius, . . .64 


1. We must now remind the reader of the two sons of Herod 
the Great by the Asamonean Mariamne, whom their father had 
put to death. One of them, Aristobulus, left a son called Herod 
Agrippa, who was sent to Rome, and brought up there in the 
imperial family. While Tiberius lived, he attached himself to 
Caligula, and became his intimate friend and companion. An 
unguarded expression of the wish that his friend might soon be 
emperor, was reported to Tiberius, who threw him into prison, 
laden with chains. The first act of Caligula, when he came to 
the throne, was to liberate Herod Agrippa, and to bestow on him 
a chain of gold, of the same weight as that chain which he had 
worn for his sake. Nor was this all : he bestowed on him the 
tetrarchy of his late uncle Philip, together with that of Abilene, 
with the title of king. This unexpected advancement of his 
nephew was highly unpalatable to Herod Antipas, who, greatly 
coveting the royal title himself, went to Rome to endeavour to 
obtain it ; but in seeking it he lost all, and was sent to join Pi- 
late at Vienne in Gaul. His territory was given to the fortu- 
nate Agrippa; Judaea and Samaria were added a few years af- 
ter; so that the kingdom of Herod the Great was once more 
reconstructed in behalf of his grandson. 


FELIX. 


A. D. 52.] 


201 


2. The goverment of Agrippa was acceptable to the Jews. 
He was anxious to satisfy them ; and his influence at Rome en- 
abled him to be of real use to them. Caligula grew intoxicat- 
ed with power, and wished to be worshipped as a god. The 
Jews were likely to have been in great difficulty through their 
resistance to the introduction of his image into their temple. 
The emperor was greatly enraged ; but at length the solicita- 
tions of Agrippa gave effect to the remonstrances of a deputa- 
tion from the Jews, and the temple was reluctantly exempted 
from the threatened pollution. Caligula died soon after ; and 
the part taken by Agrippa in promoting the succession of Clau- 
dius, procured the gratitude and favour of that emperor. It 
was he who added Judaea to his kingdom. 

3. It appears to have been less from an intolerant disposition 
than from a wish to please the Jews, at all hazards, that Herod 
Agrippa persecuted the Christians. He put the apostle James, 
the brother of John, to death, and Peter escaped only through 
the interposition of an angel. 

4. Latterly the mind of Herod was so inflated by the sense 
of his increasing power and greatness' that he received with 
complacency the salutation of the people, who, on some public 
occasion, hailed hin as a god in the theatre of Caesarea. A 
grievous and loathsome disease with which he was immediate- 
ly smitten, and of which he soon died, convinced him and them 
that he was a mortal man. 

5. His son Agrippa was only seventeen years of age, and was 
deemed too young to be put in possession of the dominions of 
his father. When, however, three years after, his uncle Herod, 
king of Chalcis, died, the emperor gave him that kingdom, to 
which was annexed the government of the temple at Jerusa- 
lem, and the power of appointing and removing the high-priests. 
Afterwards a more important kingdom was given for that of 
Chalcis. It was composed of the provinces of Batanea, Gaulo- 
nitis, Trachonitis, and Abilene. But on the death^ of Herod 
Agrippa, Judaea was again reduced to the condition of a Roman 
province, in which state it afterwards remained. 

6. Under the successive governments of Cuspius Phadius, of 
Tiberius Alexander, and Yentidius Cumanus, which together 
occupied not more than eight years, various acts of tumult, po- 
pular frenzy, delusion, and crime, afford indications to the care- 
ful observer of the commencement of that troubled condition of 
society which ended in the destruction of Jerusalem and the ruin 
of the nation. 

7. After these, Claudius gave the government of Judaea to his 
freedman, Felix. He was the brother of Pallas, the celebrated 
freedman and favourite of the emperor. The common obser- 
vation, that the government of a slave is always tyrannous, 
was confirmed in the case of Felix. He acted with great seve- 
rity, and with utter disregard to public opinion. He began his 
government by clearing the country of the numerous banditti, 


202 


PORCIUS FESTUS. 


[a. d. 60 . 

and the clandestine assassins called Sicarii,* by whom it was 
infested. The great principle of conduct in Felix was the same 
as that ascribed to the Turkish Pashas in our day — he was bent 
on making a fortune for himself during the limited period of his 
government. To this end there was nothing mean, cruel, un- 
just, or extortionate, to which he did not resort ; and this conduct 
went far to extend and strengthen that impatience of the Ro- 
man yoke which had long existed, and which was soon to rise 
to a kind of madness. Indeed, it was such already ; for constant- 
ly were enthusiasts and impostors starting up, declaring them- 
selves divinely commissioned to deliver the nation from the Ro- 
man bondage. The general expectation of such a deliverer se- 
cured followers for the wildest of these impostors ; and so nu- 
merous were they, that scarcely a day passed in which several 
of them were not put to death. The deluded people who list- 
ened to them were destroyed like vermin by the Roman troops. 
The procurator is the same Felix whose name occurs in the 
Acts of the Apostles (xxiv.) — the same who “ trembled ” when 
the apostle reasoned before him “ of righteousness, temperance, 
and judgment to come ” — the same who kept Paul in prison, ex- 
pecting to obtain money for his ransom. About that time, how- 
ever, his government became so intolerable to the Jews, that they 
sent a deputation to complain of his conduct to the emperor 
Nero. He was then recalled ; and the influence of his brother 
Pallas alone preserved him from a severe punishment. 

8.' Felix was succeeded by Portius Festus, whose character 
in history is much fairer than that of his predecessor. He pro- 
ceeded to act with great vigour against the robbers and Sicarii, 
who again swarmed in the land, and acted with incredible bold- 
ness, spreading terror through the very heart of Jerusalem. He 
next applied himself to allay the discords which raged between 
the superior and inferior priests, and which, in a country 
where the ecclesiastical institutions were still so prominent as 
in Judaea, could not be carried on without involving all the in- 
terests of the state. No one can examine the history of this 
period without perceiving that the leaders of the people, whe- 
ther priests or laymen, were, as Josephus, who knew them well, 
describes, as vile misceants as ever lived. The immediate cause 
of quarrel among the priests was connected with the frequent 
changes of the persons holding the office of the high-priest, 
and the extravagant claims of the persons who had once enjoyed 
that dignity. These, in the course of time, formed a conside- 
rable body, and as they all claimed the pontifical portion out ot 
the tithes, there was not enough left for the subsistence of the in- 
ferior priesthood. The vigour with which the claim was en- 
forced, and the vehemence with which it was resisted, led to 

* They obtained this name from using poniards bent like the Roman 
Sica, It was their practice to mingle with the crowds, having these 
poniards under their garments, and then using them as they saw oc- 
casion. 


A.D. 64.] 


GESSIUS FLORUS. 


203 


the most scandalous outrages. They engaged partisans and 
employed assassins against each other ; and not only was the 
country kept in a continual ferment, but the very sanctuary was 
often desecrated by their broils and stained with their blood. 
By his resolute conduct and wholesome services, Festus in 
some degree subdued this disgaceful strife. He received much 
trouble from the enthusiasts and false prophets who from time 
to time appeared, exciting the multitude by their promises of 
deliverance. In the midst of these labours Festus died, after 
he had' held the government only two years. 

9. Albinus, his successor, thought only of enriching himself. 
His severities were reserved for poor rogues who could produce 
no money; but the most atrocious criminals who could bribe 
sufficiently high, were sure of impunity. As crime yielded 
him a rich harvest of bribes and ransoms, he was but little anx- 
ious to put it down, and his course of action gave it great en- 
couragement ; so that he was declared to be the real head of 
all the robbers in the country. 

10. But bad as Albinus was, he was greatly surpassed in op- 
pression and cruelty by Gessius Florus, who was sent out to 
supersede him. This man seems, indeed, to have been the very 
worst, as he was the last, of the Roman governors. Other go- 
vernors had been tyrannical, cruel, avaricious ; but the tyranny 
of Florus knew no bounds, his cruelty was a habit, and his ava- 
rice was utterly unsatiable. He gave protection to all robbers 
who would divide the spoils with him, and thus practically 
gave licence to all kinds of violence and spoliation. His mal- 
administration was so outrageous as must have insured his dis- 
grace, had it been a subject of complaint at Rome ; and the 
knowledge of this made him do his utmost to urge on the ten- 
dencies of the people to intestine commotion and open revolt, 
hoping: that, in the storm the voice of complaint against him 
would not be heard, and that a wider field for spoliations would 
be opened up. The measures of Florus can, however, only be 
said to have hastened by a few years that result which the 
madness of the people had made inevitable. 


m 


CHAPTER V. A. D. 64 to 70. 


JUDJ5A. 


Roman Procurators, 

A. D. 

Gessius Florus, 

64 

War with the Romans, 

65 

Vespasian invades Judsea, - 
Titus takes and destroys Jeru- 

68 

salem, .... 

70 


ROME. 


Nero, - 

A. D. 
54 

Galba, 

68 

Otho, - 

69 

Vitellius, 

69 

Vespasian, - 

69 


1. The condition of the country became so deplorable, that a 
great number of the well-disposed inhabitants sought in foreign 
countries that peace which was denied them in their own. The 
land was distracted by tumult, and overrun by robbers, who, 
professing to be actuated by zeal for liberty and religion, plun- 
dered, without mercy, the defenceless towns and villages which 
refused to give in their adhesion to what was called the patriot 
cause. Meanwhile justice was sold by the Roman governor, 
and even the sacred office of the high-priesthood was offered to 
the highest bidder. Hence, those who got that dignity were 
often profligate wretches, who, having obtained the office by 
bribes, used it for their own purposes, and maintained them- 
selves in it by the darkest iniquities. Being of different sects 
and parties, of which there was now a great number, they and 
the leading men of the nation acted with all the animosity of 
sectarianism against each other. With such examples in their 
superiors, the ordinary priests and the scribes became, in the 
highest degree, dissolute and unprincipled ; while the mass of 
the people abandoned themselves to all evil ; and seditions, ex- 
tortions, and robberies, were matters of every day occurrence. 
The bands of society were loosened ; and it became clear that 
the nation was fast ripening for destruction. 

2. Some transactions at Caesarea gave occasion for the actual 
outbreak. That place, the seat of the Roman governor, was 
built by Herod, and had a mixed population of Syrians and 
Jews. It was disputed between these two classes, to which of 
them the city really belonged. The dispute had been referred 
to the Emperor, and about this time the decree was announced 
in favour of the Syrians, whose boundless exultation greatly 
exasperated all the Jews, who had felt a prodigious interest in 
the question. This, with insults on their religion, of which the 
governor refused to take cognizance, fanned into a flame the 
smouldering embers of revolt. Acting upon the impulse thus 
given, a party of hot-brained young men surprised a Roman 
garrison at Massada, near the Dead Sea, and put all the sol- 
diers to the sword. The act was recognised at Jerusalem 


VESPASIAN INVADES JUDiEA. 


205 


A. D. 67.] 

where the leaders of the nation openly threw off their allegi- 
ance, by the refusal of the priests any longer to offer up the 
usual sacrifices for the prosperity of the Roman empire. There 
also the popular party rose and slew the Roman garrison ; and 
the palace and the public offices were destroyed by fire. Inde- 
scribable barbarities were also committed by the “patriot” 
party upon the quietly-disposed citizens, This example pro- 
duced a general insurrection, in which the Jews on the one 
side, and the Romans and Syrians on the other, attacked each 
other with the greatest fury ; and in every city there was war, 
massacre, and spoliation. 

3. On the first news of this revolt, the President of Syria, 
Cestius Gallus, marched a powerful army into Judaea, and ad- 
vanced against Jerusalem. Strange to say, he was defeated by 
the insurgents with great slaughter ; and the military engines 
which fell into the hands of the victors, were of great use to 
them in the subsequent defence of the city. The honour of 
Rome was now engaged to avenge this disgrace, and no think- 
ing man for a moment doubted the result. Nero sent the able 
and experienced Vespasian into Syria (who was accompanied 
by his son Titus,) with the quality of president, to take the con- 
duct of the war. 

4. Vespasian commenced operations in the spring of A. D. 67, 
with an army of 60,000 men. Instead of going at once to Jeru- 
salem, he employed himself in reducing Galilee, and in reco- 
vering the fortresses which had been taken by the insurgents. 
At Jotapata he was opposed by Josephus, the historian of the 
war, to whom the provisional Jewish government had confided 
the defence of Galilee. The fortress fell, and Josephus was ta- 
ken alive. He was at first treated rather roughly, but after- 
wards with consideration and respect. At the commencement 
of the campaign the Romans behaved with great severity 
wherever they came. No mercy was shown to age or sex, but 
cities, towns, and villages were cruelly ravaged and destroyed. 
Nor were these desolations confined to Judaea ; for in many fo- 
reign cities in which Jews were settled, they were slaughtered 
in multitudes by the Roman soldiers and the other inhabitants. 
Some idea of these dreadful massacres may be formed from the 
facts, that above 20,000 Jews were slain in one day at Caesarea, 
13,000 in one night at Scythopolis, 50,000 at Alexandria, 8,000 
at Joppa, and above 10,000 at Damascus. Nor need we won- 
der at such extent of destruction among a people who were 
so infatuated as to rush into a warfare, in which, according to 
Josephus, the odds were so fearfully against them. 

5. Though the war was steadily prosecuted, Vespasian 
evinced no haste to march against Jerusalem; and when urged 
by his impatient officers, he told them that it was better to let 
the Jews destroy one another. In fact, he knew well how de- 
structively the factions were raging against each other in Je- 
rusalem. There were three of these factions, afterwards re- 


206 


JERUSALEM BESETGED. 


tA.tt.70. 

duced to two, holding possession of different parts of the city. 
They wasted their strength in cruel conflicts with each other ; 
in which they even destroyed the storehouses of corn and pro- 
visions which formed the only resource against famine in the 
threatened siege. In one thing, however, they all agreed, — in 
harassing, plundering, and destroying the citizens and nobles 
who did not enter into their views. Thus they obtained little 
real benefit from the respite which arose from the attention of 
the Roman army being diverted for a while from them by the 
revolution which at this time happened in imperial Rome, in 
consequence of the death of Nero. Galba, Otho, Yitellius, 
were invested with the purple in quick succession; and at 
length, with general approbation, Vespasian himself was de- 
clared emperor by the army in Judsea. He then departed for 
Rome, leaving the conduct of the war to his son Titus. 

6. At the feast of the Passover, in the ensuing year, when 
the city of Jerusalem was, as usual at that time, crowded with 
people from all quarters, the Roman army appeared before the 
wails. It was probably his anxiety to save the city and the 
temple, that induced Titus to commence the siege at this sea- 
son; as it might have been expected, that where such multi- 
tudes were shut up in an ill-provisioned city, famine alone 
would soon make a surrender inevitable. The besieged were 
very earnestly invited to open their gates to the Romans, and 
were with all sincerity assured of their liberty and safety. Jo- 
sephus was also commissioned to harangue them, and to point 
out to them the folly of supposing that they could hold out 
against, or successfully resist, the power of Rome. But all 
warning and counsel were treated with insult and scorn ; and 
the factions expressed the resolution of defending the city to 
the very last, in the confidence that God would not permit his 
temple and city to fall before the heathen. Such repeated re- 
fusals of mercy and compassion, and the very desperate defence 
made by the besieged, compelled Titus, much against his own 
will, to become the unconscious instrument of accomplishing 
that doom of the city and temple which Christ had nearly forty 
years before denounced. The folly of resistance was so clear 
to Titus, that he became exasperated at the unpleasant task 
which their obstinacy imposed upon him. Resolved that none 
of them should escape, but such as surrendered to him, he 
raised around the city a strong wall of circumvallation, strength- 
ened with towers. This great work was accomplished in the 
short space of three days. 

7. The city was very strong, being surrounded by three 
walls, one within another; and then there was the temple, 
which itself was an exceedingly strong fortress. All these de- 
fences were successively carried by the Romans, although ev- 
ery step was desperately contested by the besieged, who for 
fifteen weeks prevented their enemies from reaching the tem- 
ple. During that time, the most horrible famine was experi- 


207 


A. D. 70.] TAKEN AND DESTROYED BY TITtJS. 

enced within the city. At length no table was spread, or regu- 
lar meal eaten in Jerusalem ; people bartered all their wealth 
for a measure of corn, and often ate it unground and unbaked, 
or snatched it half baked from the coals ; things were eaten 
which all men abhor, and which the Jews, of all men, deemed 
the most abominable. Many perished of mere want, espe- 
cially the old and the very young, for to the latter the mother’s 
breast no longer afforded nourishment ; and there were in- 
stances of dead infants being eaten by their own parents ; thus 
being fulfilled that ancient prophecy in which Moses had de- 
scribed the punishments of their unbelief.* Nor was famine 
the only scourge ; the factions still raged within the city ; 
agreeing only in resisting the enemy without, and then turning 
with unabated fury against each other. They agreed also in 
continuing their shameful maltreatment of such of the inhabi- 
tants as they suspected to be in favour of surrendering the city, 
or inclined to desert to the Romans. To incur suspicion of this 
was instant death; and many persons were charged with the 
offence, and slain for the sake of their wealth. 

8. The lower city was taken by the Romans early in the 
month of May ; but the temple did not fall until the beginning 
of August. Titus was most anxious to save this glorious fabric, 
as one of the noblest ornaments of the Roman empire. But the 
Jewish historian observes, that the “ holy and beautiful house” 
was doomed to destruction; and he attributes to ‘'a divine im- 
pulse” the act of the soldier who seized a burning brand, and 
cast it in at the golden window, whereby the whole fabric was 
soon in flames. Titus hastened to the spot, and finding all at- 
tempt to save the building hopeless, he, with some of his offi- 
cers, entered the sanctuary, and directed the removal of the sa- 
cred utensils of gold, some of which afterwards graced his tri- 
umphal procession, and were sculptured upon the arch which 
commemorated his victory. 

9. The upper city, into which the besieged had retreated, soon 
after fell ; and this completed the conquest of Jerusalem. In 
all these operations the carnage was horrible, for with t ie Ro- 
mans the time for mercy was past; and, in their exasperation 
at the useless obstinacy of the defence, they burnt and destroy- 
ed without remorse, and massacred the people without distinc- 
tion of age or sex. Streams of blood ran through all the streets, 
and the alleys were filled with bodies weltering in gore. The 
number that perished during the four months of the seige, is 
computed at 1,100,000, a number which would seem incredible 

* “ The tender and delicate woman among you, which would not ad- 
venture to set the sole of her foot upon the ground for delicateness and 
tenderness, her eye shall be evil toward the husband of her bosom, and 
toward her son, and toward her daughter, and toward her children which 
she shall bear : for she shall eat them for want of all things, secretly, in 
the siege and straitness wherewith thine enemy shall distress thee in thy 
gates.” — Deut. xxviii. 56, 57. 


208 THE JEWS UNDER THE ROMAN EMPERORS. [A. D. 70 . 

if we did not recollect that a nation was, as it were, shut up in 
that city, having assembled to celebrate the Passover ; so that, 
as Josephus observes, this exceeded all the destructions that 
had hitherto been brought upon the world. Besides, more than 
an equal number perished elsewhere in the six years of war ; 
and 97,000 were made prisoners and sold into slavery. Of these 
thousands were sent to toil in the Egyptian mines, and thousands 
more were sent into different provinces as presents, to be con- 
sumed by the sword, and by wild beasts in the amphitheatres. 
They were offered for sale “till no man would buy them,” and 
then they were slain, or given away. 

10. Thus did Israel cease to be a nation, and become outcast 
and desolate ; thus were their famous city and its glorious tem- 
ple utterly cast down ; and thus was inflicted the doom which 
was impiously invoked, when the inhabitants of Jerusalem cried 
out, “ His blood be on us and on our children.” 


CHAPTER Y I. A. D. 70 to 1842. 

1. After the Roman armies were withdrawn from Jerusalem 
many of the Jews returned to dwell in the ruined city, though 
the Roman Emperor, indignant at the late rebellion, had placed 
a garrison of 800 troops on Mount Zion, in order to prevent any 
attempt to rebuild the sacred capital. A portion of the country 
was yet, indeed, unscathed by the flames of war ; the towns 
on the coast submitting to the conquerer, escaped the horrors of 
a siege and the penalties of rebellion, while the provinces be- 
yond Jordan enjoyed tranquillity under the rule of the conquer- 
ors. But the Jews were discontented and rebellious under the 
yoke of Rome ; they still fondly believed that an earthly Messiah 
was shortly to arise, to free them from bondage, and to give 
them the dominion of the whole earth. They accordingly lis- 
tened to the tales of every impostor, and were easily seduced 
into rebellion by vain hopes of national glory, that were never 
realized. Hence their continual insurrections, which exposed 
them still farther to the vengeance of the conquerors, and ac- 
celerated the crisis of their fate, when they were driven alto- 
gether from their own land, and dispersed over the face of the 
earth. In the course of these commotions, great cruelties were 
committed; but in the end, the Jews were everywhere borne 
down by the discipline of the Roman legions, and paid the pen- 
alty of their rebellion with their lives. By acts of mutual cru- 
elty the animosity of both parties was inflamed; the sword of 
persecution was let loose against the Jewish religion by their 
conquerors ; the rite of circumcision, the reading of the law, and 
the observance of the Jewish Sabbath, and all the other memo- 


BARCOCHAB. 


209 


A. D. 131.] 

rials of the national faith, were forbidden. In the city of Jeru- 
salem, which was to a certain extent repaired, and received the 
name of iElia Capitolina, a colony of Greeks and Latins was 
established, in order to preclude the return of the Jews, and all 
farther hopes of the restoration of their kingdom. But the po- 
licy of the Romans was of no avail against the deep-rooted pre- 
judices of this infatuated people ; and no sooner had a new im- 
postor arisen, of the name of Barcochab {the son of a star,) than 
the deluded Israelites hailed him as the light that was to dawn 
in the latter days, and usher in the day of their long expected 
rest. They accordingly crowded to his standard ; and in a 
short time he had mustered a powerful army of 200,000 devot- 
ed followers. Owing to the absence of the Roman legions, en- 
gaged at that time in distant service, important advantages were 
gained, and Jerusalem was again occupied by the insurgent 
Jews, besides about fifty castles, and numbers of open towns. 
But this career of success was speedily terminated by the arri- 
val of Severus, afterwards emperor, with a large and well-ap- 
pointed body of legionary troops ; the Jews were overwhelmed 
by numbers, discipline, and military skill ; their cities were 
taken and destroyed ; and Bither, where the leader of the re- 
bellion, Barcochab, had made his last stand, was stormed with 
great slaughter, and himself slain. Of the Jews it is estimated 
that 580,000 died on the field, and the remnant who escaped 
mostly perished by famine and disease, or amid the flames of 
their ruined cities. Under these ruthless devastations, the 
country was at last converted into a desert; the inhabitants 
were either slain or driven into exile; and the divine denuncia- 
tions were now fully accomplished against this misguided peo- 
ple, that they should be scattered among all the nations of the 
earth. 

2. The victors having thus satiated their vengeance, began in 
due time to relax their stem and intolerant policy. Under the 
mild rule of Antoninus Pius, the Jews were restored to their an- 
cient privileges, to the freedom of worship, and to all their other 
national rights. They were now mingled with the nations, and 
were found dwelling in all parts of the Roman empire ; and their 
general condition under the Roman emperors was not unfavour- 
able. The numerous remains of that people, though they were 
excluded from the precincts of Jerusalem, were permitted to 
form and to maintain considerable establishments both in Italy 
and in the provinces, to acquire the freedom of Rome, to enjoy 
municipal honours, and to obtain at the same time an exemption 
from burdensome and expensive offices. The moderation or 
indifference of the Romans gave a legal sanction to the form of 
ecclesiastical police which was instituted by the vanquished 
sect. The patriarch, who had fixed his residence at Tiberias, 
was empowered to appoint his subordinate ministers to exercise 
a domestic jurisdiction, and to receive from his dispersed breth- 
ren an annual contribution. New synagogues were frequently 


210 


JULIAN. 


[a. d. 306. 

erected in the principal cities of the empire; and the sabbaths, 
the fasts, and the festivals, which were either commanded by 
the Mosaic law, or enjoined by the traditions of the rabbins, 
were celebrated in the most solemn and public manner. Such 
gentle treatment insensibly assuaged the stern temper of the 
Jews, and, awakened from their dream of prophecy and con- 
quest, they assumed the behaviour of peaceable and industrious 
subjects. 

3. No great change appears to have taken place in the con- 
dition of Palestine, until Constantine ascended the imperial 
throne. He was, as is well known, the first Christian emperor; 
and under his powerful patronage, and that of his mother, the 
Empress Helena, splendid structures were everywhere erected 
in the Holy Land, in honour of the Christian faith. The land 
was gradually overspread with memorials of Christianity ; and 
chapels, altars, and houses of prayer, marked every spot which 
was memorable for the sayings or doings of the Saviour. The 
Jews beheld with indignation the rise of these Christian monu- 
ments within the precincts of the holy city. They were as much 
opposed to the Christian worship as to the heathen idolatry, 
but their influence was now at an end. Scattered in distant 
parts, they could no longer act with consistency or vigour ; yet, 
so attached were they to their peculiar rites, that, however faint 
the chance of success, they were ready in crowds to raliy round 
the standard of their ancient faith, wherever it was displayed, 
and to follow any daring leader into the field. But the time 
was past. They were rejected by the divine decree, and were 
no longer to be assembled as a nation in their own land. Jeru- 
salem was now filled with the emblems of a new faith, and 
crowds of pilgrims were attracted from the most distant coun- 
tries, by the eager desire of contemplating the place of the Re- 
deemer’s passion, and of all the previous incidents of his holy 
life. These visits weie encouraged from various motives. They 
evinced, no doubt, the zeal of the new converts; and being at 
once a proof of piety and a source of profit, they were encour- 
aged by the clergy of Jerusalem. 

4. The reign of Julian was a new era in the history of Pales- 
tine, and the Jews anticipated, from his declared enmity to 
Christianity, his favour for their own faith. The policy of this 
heathen emperor countenanced them in this belief, when he 
endeavoured, by rebuilding the temple of Jerusalem in its former 
splendour, to discredit the truth of those prophecies which de- 
nounced perpetual desolation on the devoted city. He chose the 
commanding eminence of Mount Moriah for the site of a new 
structure, which was to eclipse the splendour of the Christian 
church on the adjacent hill of Calvary : and he resolved to esta- 
blish a Jewish order of priests, who might revive the observance 
of the Mosaic rites, together with as numerous a colony of Jews 
as could be collected, in the holy city. Such was still the ardour 
of the national faith, that the Jews crowded from all parts, and 


THE PERSIAN INVASION. 


211 


a. d . 306.] 

exasperated, by their insolent triumph, the hostility of the 
Christian inhabitants. All now joined with unwearied zeal in 
the sacred work of rebuilding the temple. Liberal contribu- 
tions poured in from all quarters ; men and women joined in the 
pious labour ; and the authority of the monarch was seconded 
by the enthusiasm of the people. But this last effort of expiring 
zeal was unsuccessful ; no temple ever arose on the ruins of the 
heathen edifices ; and a Mahommedan mosque still stands on 
the ground of the Jewish temple. The work, from whatever 
cause, was abandoned ; and, as it was only undertaken during 
the last six months of Julian’s reign, the fact seems sufficiently 
explained by the absence and death of the emperor, and by the 
new maxims that were adopted during the Christian reign that 
succeeded, without the aid of the alleged miracle by which it 
has been usually explained. 

5. After the death of Julian, it was the policy of the Christian 
emperors to depress the Jews in Palestine, though they were 
not ill treated throughout the provinces, and were even granted 
considerable privileges and immunities. But it is astonishing 
how carefully fathers instilled into the minds of their children, 
along with their ancient faith, the fondly cherished delusion, 
that some new and happier era of freedom and independence 
was yet to dawn on Judaea ; and how eagerly the children, im- 
bibing this idea, became the prey of every impostor, and, under 
the blind impulse of enthusiasm, rashly entered into new con- 
flicts with their enemies in the field — where they perished, the 
willing victims of a hopeless cause. About the beginning of the 
seventh century, the peace of Judaea was seriously disturb- 
ed by the Persian invasion of Khosroes. The Greeks and the 
Persians were for a long period rivals for the dominion of the 
East ; and Khosroes, the grandson of Nushirvan, now invading 
the Roman empire, stormed and sacked the city of Antioch. 
From Syria the flood of invasion rolled southward on Palestine, 
and the Persian army was joined by the Jews to the number of 
24,000, still burning with the love of independence. The Chris- 
tians and the Jews were inflamed against each other by a long 
course of deep injuries given and received. Those of the former 
nation within the walls of Jerusalem were massacred without 
mercy by their Christian enemies, while the Jews on the out- 
side were burning with the desire of revenge. The advance of 
the Persians secured the triumph. The city was stormed by 
the combined armies, and the Jews were satiated with a full 
measure of revenge. The Christians neither sought nor found 
mercy : it was estimated that 90,000 of them perished in the 
storming of the city. Some were sold for slaves, and others 
were bought for the purpose of being murdered. The city was 
sacked, and the magnificent mouments of the Christian faith 
were mostly consumed by fire. But this, like all the other tri- 
umphs of the Jews, was short-lived. Heraclius was roused 
from inglorious sloth by the triumphs of the Persian arms, and 


212 


THE MAHOMETAN POWER. 


£a. d. 643* 

by the approach of the victorious force to the walls of his own 
capital. He quickly assembled his veteran armies, by whose 
aid he defeated the troops of Khosroes ; and, in the course of a 
few successful campaigns, he recovered all the provinces that 
had been overrun. He visited Jerusalem after his victories in 
the lowly guise of a pilgrim, and prepared new triumphs for the 
Christians, in the restoration of the magnificent churches which 
had been destroyed, and in the persecution of the Jews, and 
their banishment, as before, from the holy city, which they 
were now forbidden to approach within a nearer distance than 
three miles. 

6. Palestine continued to own the sway of the Greek empe- 
ror till the rise of the Arabian power in the East. The follow- 
ers of Mohammed, extending their doctrines and their dominion 
by fire and sword, rapidly subdued Arabia, Syria, and Egypt, 
when, about the year 637, the victorious Omar turned his arms 
against Jerusalem. After a siege of four months, during which 
the Arabs suffered extremely from the inclemency of the winter, 
a capitulation was proposed and agreed to, when the conqueror 
entered the city, seated on a red camel, which carried a bag of 
corn and dates, and without guards, or any other precaution. 
Omar was assassinated in Jerusalem in the year 643, after 
which, the East was for two hundred years distracted by the 
bloody wars that ensued among the Ommiades, the Abbassides, 
and the Fatimite caliphs ; and Palestine having become an ob- 
ject of contest between them, was for a like period a scene of 
devastation and trouble. In the year 868, the capital was con- 
quered by Achmet, a Turk ; but was again recovered by the 
caliphs of Bagdad in the year 906. It was reduced by Moham- 
med Ikschid, of the Turkish race. Towards the end of the tenth 
century, the holy city was taken possession of by Ortok ; and 
in 1076, by Meleschah, a Turk. It was retaken by the Orto- 
kides, and finally by the Fatimites, who held possession of it 
when the Crusaders made their first appearance in the Holy 
Land. 


CHAPTER VII. A. D. 1076 to 1203. 

1. Jerusalem, though it was in possession of infidel chiefs, 
was still revered as a holy city by both Christian and Jew, and 
was visited by pilgrims from every quarter ; among others by 
Peter the hermit, a native of Amiens. The pathetic tale which 
he brought to Europe, of the injuries and insults which the 
Christian pilgrims suffered from the infidels, who possessed and 
profaned the holy city, excited the deepest sympathy among 
the people and princes of Christendom. Councils were sum- 
moned, and were attended by bishops, a numerous train of ec- 


THE FIRST CRHSADE. 


213 


a. d. 1098.] 

clesiastics, and by thousands of the laity. The mixed multi- 
tude were harangued by the zealous enthusiasts of this sacred 
cause ; their pity and indignation were alternately roused by 
the sufferings of their brethren in the Holy Land ; the flame of 
enthusiasm was propagated by sympathy and example; and the 
eager champions of the cross, the flower of the European chi- 
valry, assembled in martial array, to march against the ene- 
mies of their common faith. To defray the necessary expen- 
ses of the expedition, princes alienated their provinces, nobles 
their lands and castles, peasants their cattle and instruments of 
husbandry; and vast armies were transported to Palestine, in 
order to accomplish the deliverance of the holy sepulchre. — 
These rude and undisciplined bands died in great numbers on 
reaching the shore of Asia, from disease, famine and fatigue ; 
and, of the first Crusaders, it is estimated that 300,000 had per- 
ished before a single city was rescued from the infidels. Of the 
leaders in the Christian host, the first rank is due to Godfrey, 
duke of Brabant and Bouillon, who was accompanied by his 
two brothers, Eustace the elder, who had succeeded to the coun- 
ty of Boulogne, and Baldwin the younger. The other chiefs 
were, Robert of France, the brother of King Philip ; Robert 
Duke of Normandy, the son of William the Conqueror; Bohe* 
mond, the son of Robert Guiscard ; Tancred, his cousin ; and 
Raymond of Thoulouse. The vast armies that were collected 
under the guidance of these leaders, arrived by various routes, 
at Constantinople, the Greek capital; after having lost, some 
say, half their number, in the intermediate march through un- 
known countries, by famine, disease, and the assaults of the in- 
habitants into whose countries they had made so unexpected 
an irruption. After some time spent in the capital of the East, 
they crossed to the opposite shore of Asia. Having taken the 
towns of Nice and Antioch in the year 1098, they, about a year 
after, laid siege to Jerusalem, and carried it by assault, with a 
prodigious slaughter of the garrison and inhabitants, which 
was continued for three days, without respect either to age or 
sex. 

2. Eight days after the capture of Jerusalem, the Latin chiefs 
proceeded to the election of a king, who should preside over 
their conquests in Palestine, and Godfrey of Bouillon was 
unanimously raised to this high office. But if it was an honour- 
able office, it was also one of danger ; he was not chosen to 
sway a peaceful sceptre ; and he was summoned to the field 
in the first fortnight of his reign, to defend his capital against 
the sultan of Egypt, who approached with a powerful army. 
The signal overthrow of the latter in the battle of Ascalon con- 
firmed the stability of the Latin throne, and enabled Godfrey to 
extend on every side his infant kingdom, which consisted only 
of Jerusalem and Jaffa, with about twenty villages and towns 
of the adjacent districts. The fortified castles, in which the 
Mahommedans had taken refuge, and from which they made in- 


214 


THE SECOND CRUSADE. 


[a. d. 1147. 

cursions into the open country, were reduced ; the maritime ci- 
ties of Laodicea, Tripoli, Tyre, and Ascalon, were besieged and 
taken ; and the Christian kingdom thus included a range of sea- 
coast from Scanderoon to the borders of Egypt. Although the 
province of Antioch claimed independence, the courts of Edes- 
sa and Tripoli owned themselves the vassals of the king of Je- 
rusalem ; and the four cities of Hems, Hamah, Damascus, and 
Aleppo, were the only relics of the Mohammedan conquests in 
Syria. The feudal institutions of Europe were introduced into 
this kingdom in all their purity ; and a code of laws, called the 
assize of Jerusalem, was drawn up, ar.d deposited in the sep- 
ulchre of the Saviour, as an unerring guide in all doubtful ques- 
tions that might be brought before the tribunals of the holy 
city. 

3. Godfrey was succeeded by his brother Baldwin I., who 
ruled with vigour and success. In 1118 his nephew, Baldwin 
II., ascended the throne, and still maintained the interests of 
the kingdom. Melisandra his daughter, married Fulk count of 
Anjou, who, in right of his wife, acquired the kingdom of Je- 
rusalem. He lost his life by a fall from his horse, after having 
reigned twelve years. His son, Baldwin III., ruled in Jerusa- 
lem twenty years ; and his reign was remarkable as the era of 
the second Crusade, and of the rise of the various orders of 
knighthood — the hospitallers, templars, and cavaliers. 

4. The military force of the first Crusaders, wasted by fa- 
tigue, and by losses in the field, was no longer able to oppose 
the hosts of Turks and Saracens by which it was surrounded. 
The first victories of the Europeans, and their rapid success, 
extended far and wide the terror of their arms. But this alarm 
having subsided, the Mohammedan chiefs collected their ar- 
mies, and commenced a vigorous attack on the European posts, 
scattered over a wide extent of country, and gained some im- 
portant advantages. The accounts of these disasters that were 
circulated in Europe excited the liveliest sympathy of all Chris- 
tians for their suffering brethren in the holy land, lor the de- 
fence of which the European princes now entered into a new 
coalition. A second crusade was the consequence. It was un- 
dertaken by Conrad III., emperor of Germany, and Louis VII. 
king of France, and was even more unfortunate than the first 
expedition. In the course of a tedious march through an un- 
healthy and hostile country, more than half the army of Con- 
rad was wasted by famine and the sword, and not above a 
tenth part ever reached the Syrian shore. The subsequent bat- 
tles with the Saracens reduced them to a miserable remnant ; 
and on his return with his shattered forces from this unfortu- 
nate campaign, the Emperor was met by Louis and the French 
troops, who arrived in better condition at the scene of action. 
The French army, rashly advancing into the heart of the coun- 
try, was assaulted and overwhelmned by an innumerable host 
of Turks ; and the king with great difficulty made his escape, 


A. D. 1174.] THE SULTAN SALADIN. 21u 

and finally took shipping with his knights and nobles, leaving 
his plebeian infantry to the sword of the victorious enemy. The 
two princes proceeding to Jerusalem, united the poor remains 
of their once mighty armies to the Latin troops in Syria, and 
laid a fruitless siege to Damascus, which was the termination 
of the second Crusade. 

5. The defeat and dispersion of these armies tended greatly 
to weaken the Christian cause in the Holy Land, and shake the 
foundations of the Latin throne at Jerusalem. Baldwin, the 
son of Melisandra and the Count of Anjou, together with his 
brother Amaury or Almeric, long maintained the war with con- 
siderable success against the infidels. Baldwin, dying, was suc- 
ceeded by his brother, who, after a reign of eleven years, trans- 
mitted the throne to his son, Baldwin IV., disabled both in mind 
and body by the disease of leprosy. Sybilla, the mother of 
Baldwin, was the next heiress, who chose for her second hus- 
band, and consequently for king of Jerusalem, Guy of Lusignan, 
base in character, but handsome in his person. This choice 
was universally blamed, and excited the hatred of Count Ray- 
mond, who had been excluded from the succession and regen- 
cy, and who, entertaining an implacable hatred against the 
king, was seduced into a traitorous correspondence with the 
sultan. Many of the barons were also so dissatisfied, that 
they refused to take the oath of allegiance to the new king. 

6. It was in the midst of these internal dissensions that the 
kingdom of the Latins was assailed by a new enemy, namely, 
ihe Sultan Saladin, who joined refined humanity to valour, po- 
licy, and military skill. He had risen from a private station 
to the sovereignty of Egypt, and he had been for years extend- 
ing his influence and dominions. A fortress had been seized 
by a soldier of fortune, Reginald of Chatillon, from which he 
issued with his followers to pillage the caravans and insult the 
Mohammedans, and he even threatened the holy cities of Medi- 
na and Mecca. Saladin. complained of these injuries, and be- 
ing refused satisfaction, invaded the Holy Land with an army 
of 80,000 horse and foot. He advanced against Tiberias, to 
which he laid siege ; and a decisive battle was hazarded by 
the king of Jerusalem, in defence of this important place. The 
two armies met on the plain of Tiberias, and in a sanguinary 
Conflict, which lasted two days, the Christians were completely 
overthrown, with the loss of 30,000 men. The king, the Mar- 
quis of Montserrat, and the master of the templars, with many 
of their followers, were made prisoners ; and two hundred and 
thirty gallant knights of the cross were cruelly led out to exe- 
cution after the battle. This great victory placed the whole 
country at the mercy of the conqueror. The Christians were 
left without a head ; the towns and castles, drained of their 
governors, fell successively before Saladin’s victorious force ; and 
scarcely had three months elapsed when he appeared in arms 
before the gates of Jerusalem. 


216 


THE THIRD CRUSADE. 


[a. d. 1190. 

7. This city was in no condition to sustain a protracted siege. 
It was crowded with fugitives from every quarter, who here 
sought an asylum from the destroying sword ; a disorderly 
throng of IQO‘,000 persons was confined within the walls, but 
there were few soldiers. The queen was alarmed for the fate 
of her captive husband, and her government was feeble and in- 
decisive. A defence was, however, maintained for fourteen 
days, during which the besiegers had effected a breach in the 
wall, and only waited the sultan’s orders for the assault. This 
last extremity was averted by a capitulation, by which it was 
agreed that all the Franks and Latins should quit Jerusalem, 
receiving a safe conduct to the ports of Syria and Egypt, that 
the inhabitants should be ransomed for a sum of money, and 
that those who were unable to pay it should remain slaves. 
These conditions were liberally interpreted and greatly mitiga- 
ted by the generosity of the sultan, who allowed the poor to be 
ransomed by wholesale for a moderate sum, and freely dismissed 
about three thousand more. In his interview with the queen, 
he displayed the kindness and courtesy of his disposition, com- 
forting her with his words, and even with his tears ; he dis- 
tributed liberal alms among the widows and orphans of those 
who were slain, and allowed the warlike knights of the hos- 
pital to continue their care of the sick for another year. He made 
his triumphant entry into the city with waving banners and 
martial music; the Christian church was converted into a 
mosque, and the glittering cross was taken down and dragged 
through the streets, amid the shouts of the Moslems. The 
whole country now submitted to the sultan, whose victorious 
progress was first arrested by the resistance of Tyre, which was 
gallantly defended by Conrad. The sultan being foiled in all 
his attempts to take this place, was finally compelled to raise 
the siege, and to retreat to Damascus. 

8. The capture of Jerusalem by the infidels, and the decline 
of the Christian cause in Palestine, excited the deepest sorrow ; 
the decaying zeal of the European powers was awakened, and 
new expeditions were fitted out for the recovery of the holy 
city. Philip, king of France, the emperor, Frederick Barbarossa, 
of Germany, and Richard I. ofEngland, surnamed Cceur-de-Lion, 

.assembled a large force, and, with the aid of Flanders, Frise, 
and Denmark, filled about two hundred vessels with their troops. 
The first armaments landed at Tyre, the only remaining inlet 
of the Christians into the Holy Land, and no time was lost in 
commencing the celebrated siege of Acre, which was maintain- 
ed with an enthusiasm that mocked at danger, and by feats of 
valour that were the theme of wonder, even in that romantic 
age. This memorable siege lasted for nearly two years, and 
was attended with a prodigious loss of men on both sides. At 
length, in the spring of the second year, the royal fleets of 
France and England cast anchor in the bay, with powerful re- 
inforcements, and the brave defenders of Acre were reduced to 


THE THiRD CRUSADE. 


217 


a. D. 1192.] 

capitulate. A ransom was demanded for their lives and liber- 
ties, of 200,000 pieces of gold, the deliverance of 100 nobles, 
and 1500 inferior captives, and the restoration of the holy cross, 
which had been taken at the battle of Tiberias. Thus was an 
important town and harbour obtained by the Christians, but by 
an enormous sacrifice of men. The host that surrounded Acre 
amounted at different periods to 600,000 ; of these, 100,000 were 
slain during the siege of two years, a greater number perished 
by shipwreck and disease, and it is computed that only a very 
small remnant reached their native shores. The place was ta- 
ken possession of by the Christians, on the 12th of July, 1191. 

9. l'he capture of Acre was the prelude to further operations 
agains.t the enemy. Eichard determined to commence the siege 
of Ascalon, about a hundred miles distant, and his march to 
this place was a continual battle of eleven days. He was op- 
posed by Saladin with an army of 300, 0C0 combatants ; and on 
this occasion was fought one of the most memorable battles of 
this or any other age. Saladin was defeated with the loss of 
40,000 men, and the victorious Richard obtained possession of 
Ascalon, and the other towns of Judaea. A severe winter inter- 
rupted the operations of the field. But Richard, issuing from 
his winter quarters with the first gleam of spring, advanced 
with his army within sight of Jerusalem, the great object of 
his enterprise. Saladin had chosen Jerusalem for his head- 
quarters, where the sudden appearance of the Christian con- 
queror spread universal consternation. The holy city was, how- 
ever, relieved by the hasty retreat of the English king, dis- 
couraged by the difficulties of the enterprise and the murmurs 
of his troops. In the meantime, the town of Jaffa was vigor- 
ously assaulted by Saladin with a formidable force, and was on 
the point of surrendering, when Richard, hastening to its relief, 
encountered the besieging army of Saracens and Turks, amount- 
ing to 60,000 men, who yielded to the vigour of his attack. In 
the meantime, the miseries of a protracted war began to be se- 
verely felt, and the ambitious views of Richard were obstruct- 
ed by the discontent of his troops. Negociations were commen- 
ced, which were broken off, and as often resumed. The views 
of both parties varied with the fortune of war. At last, how- 
ever, both Saladin and Richard were equally desirous of termi- 
nating an unpopular and ruinous contest. The first demands 
of Richard were, the restitution of Jerusalem, Palestine, and 
the true cross. These terms were rejected by the sultan, who 
would not part with the sovereignty of Palestine, or listen to 
any proposition for dismembering his dominions. A truce was 
at length concluded for three years, by which it was stipulated 
that the Latin Christians should have liberty to visit the holy- 
city without being liable to tribute ; that the fort of Ascalon 
should be dismantled ; and that Jaffa and Tyre, with the inter- 
vening territory, should be surrendered to the Europeans. Soon 
after the conclusion of this treaty Richard embarked for Eu- 
T 


THE FIFTH CRUSADE. 


218 


a. d. 1216.] 


rope ; and Saladin, his great rival, did not survive many months 
the conclusion of peace. 

10. The fourth Crusade was encouraged by the zeal of Pope 
Celestine III. It was directed against the Greek empire, which 
was too feeble to resist so formidable an attack ; and the result 
was its conquest by the Latins, who ruled over it fifty-seven 
years. 


CHAPTER VIII. A. D. 1203 to 1842. 


1. In the meantime, though partial successes were gained by 
the armies of the Crusaders in Palestine, their power was on 
the decline. A truce for six years had been concluded with Sa- 
phadin, the brother and successor of the sultan Saladin. The 
sovereign of the Latin kingdom at this time was Mary, the 
daughter of Isabella by Conrad of Tyre, Almeric and his wife 
being dead. In order to strengthen the government of Jerusa- 
lem, it was resolved to request the king of France, Philip Au- 
gustus, to provide a husband for Mary. John de Brienne, one 
of the most accomplished cavaliers in Europe, of tried valour 
and experience in war, was chosen ; and the Christian chiefs 
were so elated by this union, that they sought a pretence for 
breaking the subsisting truce between them and the sultan, and 
bringing matters to the arbitration of the sword. War accord- 
ingly ensued, and the new monarch of Jerusalem displayed all 
the great qualities of a statesman and a soldier, for which he 
was chosen ; and though his success did not entirely corres- 
pond to his hopes or wishes, yet he made a successful defence, 
and maintained for a time the Latin kingdom against the grow- 
ing power of its enemies. He foresaw, however, that its gra- 
dual decline and final ruin were approaching, as it was now 
reduced to two or three towns, and preserved only in a preca- 
rious existence by the divisions and civil wars that prevailed 
among its enemies. 

2. This intelligence rekindled the dying zeal of the Christian 
world. A new Crusade was commenced, and a large force, 
chiefly Hungarians and Germans, landed at Acre. The sons of 
Saphadin, who now ruled in Syria, collected their armies to 
oppose this formidable attack. But the Crusaders, rashly con- 
ducted, and weakened by divisions, advanced into the country, 
without concert or prudence ; provisions failed them ; they were 
wasted, as usual, by famine and disease; and at length their 
leader, the sovereign of Hungary, resolved to quit a country 
where he had been exposed to hardship and danger, without 
glory. The crusading armies, thus weakened and discouraged, 


THE SIXTH CRUSADE. 


219 


a. d. 1228 .] 

had laid aside all further idea of offensive operations, when, in 
the spring of the following year, a fleet of three hundred ves- 
sels, from the Rhine, appeared on the coast, and brought to 
their aid powerful reinforcements, which recruited their strength 
and restored their ascendancy in the field. For reasons which do 
not clearly appear, they now retired from Palestine, and carried 
the war into Egypt, where they obtained important successes, 
having taken Bamietta by storm, and spread such consternation 
among the infidels, that the most favourable terms of peace 
were offered, and rejected by the Crusaders. Soon after, how- 
ever, having wasted their strength on the banks of the Nile, 
they were reduced to the necessity of bargaining for permission 
to retire to Palestine, by the cession of all their conquests in 
Egypt. 

3. The next Crusade was undertaken by Frederic II., the 
grandson of Barbarossa, according to a vow which had been 
Jong made, and the performance of which had been so long de- 
layed that he was excommunicated by Gregory dX. By his 
marriage with Yiolante, the daughter of John de Brienne, he 
was the more especially bound to vindicate his right to the 
kingdom of Jerusalem, which he had received as a dowry with 
his wife. After many delays, he set sail with a fleet of 200 
ships and an army of 40,000 men, and arrived at Acre. This 
was the most successful and the most bloodless expedition that 
had yet been undertaken. Without the hazard of a battle 
Frederick entered Jerusalem in triumph. The Saracen power 
was at this time weakened by divisions ; and, owing to sus- 
pected treachery among his kindred, Kamel, the son of Saph- 
adin, held precarious possession of the throne. It was his 
policy, therefore, rather to disarm the hostility of these power- 
ful armies by treating with them, than to encounter them in 
the field ; and, accordingly, a treaty was concluded, by which 
Jerusalem, Jaffa, Bethlehem, Nazareth, and their dependencies, 
were restored to the Christians ; religious toleration was esta- 
blished, and the contending parties of Christians and Mahom- 
medans were allowed each to offer up their devotions, the first 
in the mosque El-Aksa, and the last in the mosque of Omar.* 
But all these services were performed by Frederic while under 
the stain of excommunication ; and hence the patriarch, when 
he made his entry into Jerusalem, refused to crown him, or to 
be present at the ceremonial; Frederic, therefore, himself took 
the crown from the holy sepulchre, and placed it on his own 
head. The stipulations of this treaty were not faithfully ob- 
served by the Saracens, and the Christians in Palestine still 
suffered under the oppression of the infidels. New levies were 


* Both these mosques stand on Mount Moriah ; the Christians believed 
that the mosque El-Aksa (which was originally a Christian church,) and 
the Moslems that the mosque of Omar, occupied the precise site of Solo- 
mon's Temple. 


220 SEVENTH AND EIGHTH CRUSADE. [a.D. 1249 

raised in Europe for the holy war, and a large force of French 
and English, led by the chief nobility of both nations, landed 
in Syria. Numerous battles were fought, which terminated in 
favour of the Saracens ; and the French Crusaders, accordingly, 
after severe losses, were glad to purchase peace by the cession 
of almost all their conquests in Palestine. Next year, when 
the Earl of Cornwall, with the English levy, arrived at the 
scene of action, he found, to his surprise, that all the territories 
and privileges which had been ceded to the emperor of Ger- 
many were lost ; and that a few fortresses, and a small strip of 
territory on the coast, comprised all that the Latins possessed 
in Palestine. He immediately prepared for the vigorous prose- 
cution of hostilities. But the sultan, being involved in war 
with his brother in Damascus, readily granted favourable terms 
as the price of peace, namely, the cession to the Christian ar- 
mies of Jerusalem, Beirut, Nazareth, Bethlehem, Mount Tabor, 
and a large tract of the adjoining country. But the kingdom of 
Jerusalem, thus so happily established, was subverted by a ca- 
lamity from a new and unexpected quarter. In the interior of 
Asia the conquests of Ghenghis Khan had brought about the 
most stupendous revolutions, and the barbarous hordes of the 
desert, flying before his conquering sword, rushed like a torrent 
on other nations. The Kharjsmians, unable to withstand this 
powerful invader, were driven upon Syria, and the coalesced 
powers of Saracen and Christian were unable to resist their 
powerful assault. The Christian host was overthrown in a 
great battle, which lasted two days, and in which the grand 
masters of two orders, and most of the knights, were slain. 
The merciless invaders revelled in the sack and pillage of the 
holy city, sparing neither sex nor age ; and it was not until the 
year 1247 that they were routed near Damascus, by the Syrians 
and Mamlouks, and driven back to their former settlements on 
the Caspian Sea. 

4. Each new disaster of the Christian arms served to re- 
kindle the languishing zeal of the Europeans ; and Louis IX. 
of France fitted out an immense armament for the Holy Land, 
consisting of 1800 sail, in which he embarked an army of 
50,000 men. He landed in Egypt, and, after storming the town 
of Damietta, advanced along the sea-coast towards Cairo, when 
his troops were so wasted by sickness and famine, that they fell 
an easy prey to the enemy. The king, the most of his nobles, 
and the remnant of his army, were made prisoners; and it was 
owing to the clemency of the sultan Moadhdham, who accepted 
a ransom for their lives, that Louis, with his few surviving fol- 
lowers, was permitted to embark for Palestine. 

5. The power of the Christians in Palestine, weakened, 
among other causes, by internal dissensions, was now vigo- 
rously assailed by the sultan Bibars, the Mamlouk sovereign 
of Egypt. He invaded Palestine with a formidable army, ad- 
vanced to the gates of Acre, and, reducing the towns of Sep- 


221 


A. D. 1799 .] PALESTINE INVADED BY BONAPARTE. 

phoris and Azotus, massacred or carried into captivity numbers 
of Christians. The important city of Antioch yielded to his 
powerful assault, when 40,000 of the inhabitants were put to 
the sword, and 100,000 carried into captivity. The report of 
these cruelties in Europe gave rise to the ninth and last Cru- 
sade against the infidels, which was undertaken by Louis, the 
French king, sixteen years after his return from captivity. In 
place of directing his arms immediately against Palestine, he 
landed in Africa, and laid siege to Carthage, which he reduced. 
But he perished miserably on the burning sands of Africa, of a 
pestilential disease, which proved fatal also to many of his 
troops; and thus ingloriously terminated this expedition, which 
was the last undertaken by the Europeans for the recovery of 
the Holy Land. 

6. The Europeans in Palestine were now confined within the 
walls of Acre, their last stronghold, which was besieged by a 
Mamlouk host of 200,000 troops, that issued from Egypt, and 
encamped on the adjacent plain. In this their last conflict with 
the infidels of the Holy Land, the Europeans fully maintained 
the glory of their high name. They displayed all the devo- 
tion of martyrs in a holy cause, and performed prodigies of 
valour. But, equalled as they were in discipline, and fearfully 
overmatched in numbers, by their enemies, they were over- 
borne by the weight and violence of their attacks, and in the 
storm and sack of the city, all either perished or were carried 
into captivity. Thus terminated for ever all those visions of 
glory and conquest by which so many adventurers were se- 
duced from Europe to the Holy Land, there to perish under 
the complicated perils of disease and the sword. The other 
smaller towns which still remained in possession of the Chris- 
tians yielded without a struggle to the Moslem arms, and un- 
der the religious tyranny of the infidels which succeeded, the 
Christians in Palestine were every where reduced to the lowest 
degree of debasement. The pilgrims who still visited Jerusa- 
lem were exposed to insult and danger ; and large contributions 
were exacted by their oppressors for a free passage through 
the Holy Land. The Mamlouk sultans of Egypt continued to 
rule over Palestine till the year 1382, when the country was 
overrun by a barbarous tribe from the interior of Asia. On 
their expulsion, the sovereignty of the Egyptian sultans was 
again acknowledged, until the country yielded to the formida- 
ble irruption of the great Tamerlane. At his death Jerusalem 
reverted to the kingdom of Egypt, and was finally subdued by 
the Turks, under whose barbarous rule it has continued for 
more than 300 years. The country was partitioned into pro- 
vinces, in each of which a pasha ruled with a despotic autho- 
rity equal to that of the sultan.. 

7. In this condition Palestine remained without any remark- 
able event in its history, except that for nearly three centuries 

it was the scene of domestic broils, insurrections and massacres, 

* 


222 


MEHEMET ALI. 


A. d. 1839 .] 

until the memorable invasion of Egypt by the French army. 
Bonaparte, being apprized that preparations were making in 
the pachalik of Acre for attacking him in Egypt, resolved, ac- 
cording to his usual tactics, to anticipate the movement of his 
enemies. He accordingly marched across the desert which di- 
vides Egypt from Palestine, and invaded the country at the 
head of 10,000 troops. El Arish surrendered, and the lives of 
the garrison were spared on condition that they should not 
serve against him during the war. Gaza also yielded without 
opposition ; and Jaffa, stormed after a brave resistance, was 
given up to pillage. The French army then proceeded to form 
the siege of Acre ; and this fortress, the last scene of conflict 
between the Christians and infidels of former days, became a 
modern field of battle, in which were exhibited prodigies of 
valour that rivalled the most renowned deeds of those chivalric 
times. The trenches were opened on the 10th of March ; in 
ten days a breach was effected, and a desperate assault took 
place. At first the defenders were forced to give way; but 
Djezzar Pasha, who had shut himself within the walls, and 
who was aided by Sir Sidney Smith with a body of British sai- 
lors, rushed forward •among the thickest of the combatants, 
and, animating the troops by his example, drove back the 
enemy with heavy loss. Bonaparte still persevered in a series 
of furious assaults against the fortress, which were all most 
gallantly repelled; and after a protracted siege of sixty days, a 
last assault was ordered, which being equally unsuccessful with . 
all former attempts, and attended with the loss of some of his 
bravest warriors, dictated the necessity of an immediate re- 
treat. 

8. Of late years a new power has arisen in the East, namely, 
that of Mehemet Ali, pasha of Egypt, who, having collected 
large treasures and a well-disciplined army, openly renounced 
his allegiance to the Grand Signior. A war took place, in 
which the hasty levies of Turkey were broken and put to flight 
by the veteran troops of Egypt ; and a series of brilliant suc- 
cesses added Syria, with Palestine, to the pasha’s dominion. 
The people generally were disposed to hail the change of mas- 
ters with pleasure ; and by a well advised and moderate sys- 
tem of government, Mehemet Ali might have bound them 
firmly to his person and his cause. But, although in some re- 
spects an enlightened man, his notions of government were 
still Oriental and despotic; and the sort of European discipline 
and order which he had introduced into his civil and military 
service, was chiefly valued by him as an instrument in giving 
the more general and certain effect to his extortions. The Sy- 
rians soon discovered that, instead of being relieved from the 
exactions of the Turkish government, much heavier burdens 
were laid upon them. The conscription, or forcible impress- 
ment of young men for the army, and the disarming of the po- 
pulation were, however, the measures which created the most 


CONCLUSION. 


223 


a. D. 1842]. 

general discontent, and led to such disturbances and revolts, as 
encouraged the Porte in the design which it had always enter- 
tained, of reducing the pasha and recovering the ceded provin- 
ces. Eventually a Turkish army appeared on the northern 
frontier of Syria, and soon came into collision with the Egyp- 
tian army under Ibrahim Pasha, eldest son of Mehemet Ali. 
The Turks were completely routed by the Egyptians in the 
battle of Nezib ; and the great powers of Europe then deemed 
it right to interfere, to prevent Ibrahim from pursuing his vic- 
tory, and to crush the ambitious designs of his father. This 
was accomplished chiefly through the brilliant operations of an 
English fleet, under Admiral Stopford and Commodore Napier, 
by which Acre and other strongholds on the coas twere taken 
for the sultan ; and the pasha was at length compelled to eva- 
cuate Syria and restore it to the dominion of the Porte. 


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INVOICE. 



DAYTON PUBLIC LIBRARY 

Renewals — Any two-week book may be 
renewed once for two weeks; except those 
for which a reserved postal is waiting. 

Fines — A fine of two cents a day (excluding 
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the book, and has the authority to collect fines and an 
additional fee of 25 cents. No borrower may use his 
card until fines and claims for damages have been paid. 

The Library takes every precaution against the circu- 
lation of books to homes in quarantine. 


Library Bureau 79 1616 


FORM NO. 49 



library of 


0 019 612 482 2 


